Living in a Really, Really Weird World
by Snow-Nightshade
Summary: SI/OC Her name is Kazeshini Uzumaki and she was born even before Madara Uchiha was around, she doesn't want to fight head on and so fights as an assassin, she's a dauntless sword user who carries a nodachi a few inches taller than her, and she's a girl who really just wants to bear hug the ever adorable Naruto and he isn't even around yet. Self-Insert (Rating has changed to M)
1. Chapter 1-3

Chapter One

Dying is painful, shocking and all together rather unpleasant. She had just been minding her business, walking across the street; her whole goal just trying to get an actual interview for her first job. It was bright out, and hot too. She had already participated in her three college classes for the day which resulted in a paper which would be due the next Monday. Her grandmother was helping pay for classes, as long as she didn't fail a class, but getting a job to try paying for her own classes and books would help relieve the financial burden off her grandmother.

In her hand was the résumé which she had spent hours poring over to get it just right. On her back was her backpack filled with textbooks and binders full of homework and class notes. She was dressed nicely, since she had always thought that a person should dress to impress even when in school, so she was dressed in slacks and a button up shirt.

Personally, she thought she wasn't too pretty. In fact, she was quite envious of other girls with their perfectly curled and styled hair or make-up. She had plain blond hair that didn't do what it was supposed to most of the time, and a face that just couldn't wear makeup without breaking into acne. Plain brown eyes and glasses made her a plain Jane all the way around.

She had never had a boyfriend and only once did she ever have any sort of sexual experience but she was too embarrassed to go all the way without being married.

She waited at the street corner, waiting for the light to turn green, impatient and huffy from the weight of her backpack and the heat of the sun glaring down on her head. Finally, when the light turned green, she walked across the intersection, her eyes glued to the phone in her free hand. She didn't even bother looking in both directions as she had been taught as little kid.

Not even halfway across the road, a sports car came barreling down the road having taken a turn on two wheels. The car swerved drunkenly so she picked up the pace in her nice, high heeled boots while trying to run across to safety, and the car didn't even stop at the obvious red light.

Whoever was driving only put on the brakes as he was already halfway across the intersection, probably just having spotted the girl in whatever drunken haze he or she was experiencing.

She shouldn't have moved at all, but continued trying to get to the other side of the intersection. The whole fight or flight mentality had her running with her metaphorical tail tucked between her legs in fright, but the car swerved. Right. Into. Her.

You know, when they say that you can't feel yourself dying because the shock is so abrupt that you literally can't process it in that moment? Wrong. She could literally fell the impact as her hips shattered; legs were turned to paste, ribs and spine snapping like brittle twigs. She could feel her skin shredding as she rolled across the street, wonderfully patterned road rash on what skin hadn't been pulverized and pulped.

It was at that point that shock set in as blood rapidly drained from her unmoving, paralyzed body.

She could suddenly hear everything; birds chirping, the guy driving getting out of his car and throwing up all over his feet, and a minute later the sirens wailing since the police/fire station was only a hop, skip, and a jump away. Everything was so hyper clear though she couldn't think a single thought among all that information that her senses tried shoveling into her brain.

Blood bubbled from her lips, her lungs convulsing as blood filled her right lung as the left one had collapsed. She got really cold as a pool of blood surrounded her, the ground seemingly started to soften as she lay upon it. She didn't think of anything really, nothing but half nonsense such as how she knew she missed a question on a recent test, how she forgot to do one of her chores, how she really enjoyed her lunch made of chicken and tomatoes with some ranch dressing.

The last thoughts she had were, _That red paint is really pretty_. Obviously that meant she wasn't thinking coherently at all as she was commenting on her own blood splatter pained the road.

Next thing she knew, she's having a really odd out of body experience. She was practically a ghost with absolutely no cares in the world whatsoever.

These fleshy beings scurried around like ants, but she had absolutely no cares. Seeing her family crying over her flesh body produced an uncaring shrug as she knew they would eventually ascend to a higher plain compared to being confined to a bag of flesh; so there was really no need to mourn.

She floated around, enjoying herself. She had no time constraints, had no need for money or food or other fleshly worries. She enjoyed natural beauty and anything else she had enjoyed when she had been confined to a physical body. She was proud to visit every single country she had ever wanted to visit, which consisted of most of the world, and she enjoyed relaxing without question as she no worries that plagued her mind.

Enjoying herself, doing absolutely nothing and without many coherent thoughts save for the most simple of emotions such as joy and happiness, which she achieved through visiting new places and 'learning' new stuff.

That was until she became listless and fatigued.

It started out slow, unnoticed, until she was too tired to try traveling to new places and seeing new things. It was also very odd, especially since she had been a ghostly being that nothing seemed to touch or change. However, eventually, she just seemed to stop completely, and her energetic being just seemed to pop… like a shiny little soap bubble.

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Chapter Two

When her ghostly just seemed to give out, popping much like a really shiny soap bubble, waking up was really odd.

She didn't actually wake up but kind of became coherent.

It was warm, there was a constant pulsating beat, and she was really comfortable. It was calming, just existing. She literally couldn't think any higher thoughts, her brain only computing varying impressions which currently consisted of _warmth, content_ , and _love_. That was it for a long while.

She rarely awoke with any actual thoughts on her situation and even these little spurts of lucidity were rare and far between. However, they began happening more and more often as she seemed to grow bigger and her body seemed to develop further. It wasn't too difficult to just fall asleep, but there was definitely one point where she remembered panicking because she just _knew_ she wasn't actually breathing.

Then she just fell back asleep not even a quarter of the way to working herself into a panic attack.

Whatever.

However, she woke up again and she really, really comfortable so she ignored all these instincts blaring in her small little brain that practically screamed at her to get the hell out of whatever cramped place she was sleeping. She basically just told her body to fuck off and she went right back to sleep. Annoying thing was, was that when she rolled over to get back to sleep, something got wrapped around her. It just made her want to glare, already in a slightly bad mood from the horrible wake-up call from her senses, but she just went right back to sleep.

She slept in this warm, comfortable place for a long while. She was calm and content; no higher thoughts, no worries, and no memories of much save for interesting snippets that floated around like dreams whenever she was coherent enough to actually think. She was perfectly fine with sleeping, especially since nothing seemed wrong with that one single bit.

It was some time later, when her comfortable resting place was getting a little too snug, that she suddenly felt a slight panic around her. It was as though she was no longer wanted in this warm place and was therefore rejected.

Now, the really uncomfortable bit was becoming squashed through a really weird tube, after being bumped awake by something on the outside of her really comfortable home. It was painful, since whatever tube she was being squeezed down didn't seem to understand that her skull didn't actually want to fit.

Next thing she knew, it was cold, she couldn't breathe as something was choking her, and these lights were driving into her eyes like fucking needles. She tried seeing what was going on but her eyes seemed to be working even worse than when she wore glasses. That thought barely made her pause since her little mind couldn't actually remember wearing any sort of glasses before the idea slipped from her thoughts like water through a sieve.

Whatever was wrapped around her neck was quickly unwound and removed before someone stuck their meaty fingers in her mouth to dislodge her unresponsive tongue.

Then, with a firm smack on her bottom, a smack with shocked her, she cried.

She screamed, she cried, and she even had a mild panic attack before she was wrapped like some sort of freakish pink burrito.

Sometime in the middle of her panic attack, she fell asleep.

Fucking weird. No other way to put it.

It's all panic, panic, pani… sleep.

She crashed and the next thing she awoke to is blurry vision, though she was somehow used to it as she had always needed glasses (though she couldn't quite remember what glasses actually were), and naked boobs right in front of her face.

She gaped in shock, couldn't really help herself because there were suddenly these tits just all of a sudden in front of her face. Then, she shut her mouth and absolutely refused to do anything but scrunch up her face in preparation to cry.

For some reason, though she couldn't actually remember why, there is just some sort of massive instinct going off in her head that screaming " _NO! Do not put that it your mouth_!"

At this point, she's already figured out that she must be some sort of baby because she was wearing what she could tell was a diaper and she was being rocked by a giantess. After her panic attack that she crashed in the middle from, she wakes up to see giants holding her and a room that could only hold giants.

Whatever, she's as cool as a cucumber (though she really can't seem to remember where these little thoughts keep coming from); ignoring the panic attack she had when she was first born. That is until someone undresses her and shoves what she suspects is a thermometer up her butt.

She was not a happy camper and she made damn sure that everyone else knew as well.

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Chapter Three

(Three Months Old)

She had to admit, being a baby kind of sucks.

No, let her rephrase that. Being a baby really, really sucks.

She has to wallow in her own filth unless she cried for help, she slept all the fucking time and barely finish any thoughts before she's sleeping again, she always felt hungry but she could only seem to eat a smidgen of food which all tastes crappy anyway, she could only see so far before everything gets blurry, and she couldn't understand a single word that her new parents said.

Whatever.

Though, she had to admit that her mom was awesome, or should she say Kaa-san.

Originally, she only knew a spattering of Japanese from watching anime she used to watch (especially as her memories seemed to organize quite quickly once she was actually born), but her kiddy brain just seemed to be a fucking sponge. A really, really dry sponge that can grow from the size of a dime and explode into the size of a watermelon.

She also finally learned her own name… Kazeshini. She had literally been named the Wind of Death because of the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, which was normally a death sentence for a newborn and because of the powerful winds and storms that had happened during her birth.

Over the next few months, Kazeshini learned everything she could. However it annoyed her that she still had to cry for her dirty nappy to be changed as Kazeshini refused to lay in her own filth for more than a minute. She wanted to scoff, no wonder no one could remember being a baby, it is mentally scarring.

Still, her Kaa-san is awesome. The woman had bright red hair that just totally draws the eye, and she's also the one who seems to wear the pants in her parent's relationship though that is only when in private. Other than that, it seems that everything is all patriarchal. All these guests that came to see Kazeshini as her cute drooling and pooping baby self, all deferred to Tou-san.

Still, he's nice when he's around but it isn't too often.

Kazeshini suspected it's because he has to fight or something because she has always seen him in this odd Japanese samurai armor/ninja outfit that's actually pretty cool to look at. However, if she was in the main room when her Tou-san got home, Kazeshini could sometimes see a little bit of blood splatter on his clothes and armor.

However, she was cool with that. She died and she could totally remember her last thoughts of thinking that her blood had been pretty, pretty paint.

Though, she was definitely not going to around cackling like the mad hatter while killing people. It also helped that Kazeshini heard that her Tou-san was one of the guards of the clan head, and that meant he was a protector and not any sort of gangster of mass-murderer.

~˜~˜~o0҉0o~˜~˜~

Growing up went by quickly since it seemed like she slept most of the day away. However, Kazeshini was bored of doing nothing all day but bash blocks on the tatami mats and gum on her white and black stuffed tiger while staring up at the circular mobile hanging above her head.

The first thing Kazeshini did when she could finally stand up, which was only within a few months as she had constantly been trying to become slightly independent and not totally dependent on her mother, was that she went to the bookshelves. These massive monstrosities of sturdy wood that towered over her small, chubby body were filled with scrolls and books. With fumbling fingers, Kazeshini gripped what was obviously a picture book in grabbing distance and dragged it over to her Kaa-san so that the woman would read to her daughter. This started the stage that Kazeshini would constantly nag at her parents to teach her to read.

Hiragana, katakana, and kanji were the three written languages that Kazeshini needed to learn; hiragana and katakana having thousands of symbols for different meanings and kanji consisting of only around a hundred that could be fit together to match spoken word.

Luckily, she had her stupidly elastic and sponge like child's brain and it went by faster and faster, especially since Kazeshini had the patience of a young adult compared to an actual child. Her reading was also drastically sped up when she found a kanji dictionary to help with the memorization of the three different written languages.

Also, despite any worries her parents might have expressed, Kazeshini refused to speak. She daren't speak since she didn't want to seem freakishly smart speaking words that she had not ever heard before and freak out her new parents so Kazeshini stayed silent. She was also afraid of being considered some sort of prodigy, especially since she was a fake and only smart by a baby's standard because of her previous memories of a twenty year old college student trying for a degree in art.

It didn't matter that she didn't speak since she followed her Kaa-san's commands quite easily as Kazeshini followed her Kaa-san around trying to help. Though, Kazeshini was pretty sure that she was just a nuisance. Kazeshini also explored her home as much as she could, getting into anything and everything but wasn't let outside without supervision.

As she grew taller, Kazeshini could reach the books and scrolls on slightly higher shelves in the library compared to just the books and scrolls off the ground floor, and that was where she learned that she was in the world of Naruto.

Kazeshini had just found a scroll on how exactly one should mediate for the beginning steps of chakra control.


	2. Chapter 4-6

Chapter Four

(Six Months Old)

Kazeshini could swear that she just sat in shock, on her fat little diaper clad bottom, until a grin formed on her cute little chubby cheeks. Thinking it through, she was quite excited about learning chakra, the mystical magical energy that could do nearly anything as long as you had the imagination to try and the patience to practice.

Then, without further fanfare other than a wide, shit-eating grin decorating her face, Kazeshini read through the scroll and put it away quickly, not wanting to be caught with it.

That very same night, she practiced meditating for the first time, and she felt absolutely nothing.

She had always thought that being born into the Naruto world would mean that she would magically know the magical energy of wizardry known as chakra. Come on, obviously she had to have this mystical energy that can allow ninja's to bend the space/time continuum, throw fireballs, run faster than a cheetah, create a tidal wave to surf on, and summon animals from an extra dimension. She had thought that because she had spent twenty years in a world without chakra, that being in this new world would allow her to cheat.

Then, she remembered that girls were expected to be ninja's as well, and she shivered in fear. It suddenly wasn't as fun as she had been thinking, sitting there daydreaming of all the cool things a person could do with chakra.

Kazeshini was perfectly alright with getting hurt, it happened naturally by falling down or accidentally cutting a finger. However, for a whole lot of things she would be expected to bite her own finger to draw blood or even stab herself if she couldn't release a genjutsu with chakra.

Purposely hurting herself was almost a deal breaker for Kazeshini, but she had also always wanted to be the master of the elements like the avatar from The Last Airbender. That would be awesome.

So, after that thinking session, Kazeshini fell asleep to prepare herself for the next day. Every day, and with any free time she could find when she wasn't following her Kaa-san (which was quite a bit), Kazeshini practiced meditating.

It took her weeks to actually understand what chakra was supposed to feel like, and all of the sudden it was so freaking obvious that she couldn't understand how she couldn't have felt it before.

Kazeshini felt as though her chakra was like warm, melt in your mouth chocolate and yet at the same time it was like the cool shade under a tree and a warm pool on a cool day. It was hot and cold and warm and cool, and she loved it.

The first thing Kazeshini did was call it to her chubby little fingers and make her fingers glow with a pretty blue color. It was like trying to hold water, willing it to come to her fingers and manifest in a glow, and it was amazing. Kazeshini couldn't help but release the cutest little giggle; that cute giggle that only the most adorable of little kids can produce.

Kazeshini quickly toddled to her Tou-san's office and grabbed a piece of paper from his trash bin to try sticking it to her fingers once she got back to her room. She called upon her chakra and tried making it attach to the paper like glue.

It didn't work the first time, nor did it work the second time. However, with some practice, Kazeshini made the paper stick to her fingers. It worked as though she had made her chakra some sort of magnet and then looped her chakra through the paper like sowing string that were pinched shut to hold the paper.

It was exhausting.

The paper fluttered to the ground as Kazeshini sat on her child's futon, panting like she had run a marathon with sweat pouring down her chubby little face. She gasped for some air and just sat there for a while before grabbing the piece of paper and hiding it under her pillow before falling asleep.

Kazeshini slept like a log and when she woke up, she knew her Kaa-san had been slightly worried since the woman knew her child was quite an active little baby. For dinner, Kazeshini enjoyed her apple and carrot mash which got all over the place as she practiced her hand-eye coordination by using her own spoon, before getting cleaned off. Then, with a hug to both her Kaa-san and Tou-san, she toddled off to her room.

One more time, Kazeshini tried sticking the paper to her fingers. It was hard and exhausting as her chakra permeated the paper where her fingers touched and kept the paper on her skin as if a magnet. It worked just as well and she lasted for about a minute before her chakra just seemed to flicker out and the paper dropped.

She was exhausted once again.

So, she lay down on the child sized futon, which was easily unfolded and refolded for storage purposes, and fell asleep.

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Chapter Five

(One Year Old)

Time flew by fast when one is busy. Kazeshini had progressed with her chakra control until she could stick paper on the bottom of her small feet as well as sticking paper on other parts of her body. Then she had progressed to sticking little bits of her clothes to her skin on and off throughout the day so she wasn't constantly carrying a stack of paper wherever she went. Kazeshini was also old enough to be let outside in the back garden where she could explore all on her own.

That was mainly because of how advanced she acted even though she still didn't try speaking, not even that cute baby babbles most children started.

Kazeshini also suspected that she kept getting underfoot while trying to help and it had started to annoy her mother slightly. Meh, whatever.

She had also begun practicing her letters by painting on some really smooth river stones with water. She used an old and worn out brush that had been in her Tou-san's trash bin. This helped mainly with trying to relearn writing as well as heightening the dexterity within her still chubby fingers.

It was a tiring process to relearn to write but Kazeshini remembered going to college and she had remembered taking art classes galore. She had remembered wanting to become an artist and a fashion designer as it was where her passion was. So, Kazeshini wanted to draw more than stupid scribbles or finger paintings.

She practiced with her beat up brush anytime she was outside and too tired to run around; she mainly ran around like a squirrel on crack as it seemed the more chakra she practiced with, the more it grew, and the more energy she had which consequently had to be burned off when not being used. Whenever she was inside though, she snuck into the library to read whatever she could get her hands on, which consisted of only the scrolls and books on the lower shelves.

Her stupidly spongy, soaks up everything, elastic toddler brain was like a man dying from thirst. Kazeshini just couldn't get enough knowledge and she was absolutely interested in everything she could find in what she had believed to be a fictional world.

She had also thought that as an adult in a child's body, she would be totally serious all the time compared to an actual child. No, nope, not at all.

Kazeshini was controlled by her toddler body as much as she was controlled by her adult memories. The body was energetic and sometimes she could get distracted by something interesting or shiny and be occupied for minutes playing or chasing whatever had caught her attention; that was until she remembered what she had been doing before. She also struggled to sit still after a while as her energy just seemed to want her to continuously squirm before her interest was caught on something.

Just the other day, there had been this really pretty butterfly, and each time it came close and caught her attention, her whole focus would suddenly be completely zeroed in on the little butterfly. Kazeshini had chased that bug for hours like she had blinders on and the focus of her entire world had been on catching that damned butterfly. It finally flew away and Kazeshini had actually burst into tears before calming down from her seesawing emotions to realize she had been acting like an actual toddler.

Ugh, that had just not been her day.

Kaa-san though, had begun waking her daughter up early in the morning to do these really interesting morning games. Kazeshini would clap her hands along with her Kaa-san and she had figured out early on that it was improving her hand-eye coordination. Then they would begin stretching.

Kazeshini would never get over how flexible she was now as a small toddler. It's like her bones were made of rubber and they don't freaking exist. As a college student, Kazeshini had been about as limber as a log. She could reach the middle of her shins when bending over but no farther. Now, she could place her hands flat on the floor and still go just a tad bit further.

Though going too far with stretches often caused Kazeshini to lose her balance and fall over. She blamed it on the fact that she was still a cute little ball of chubby cheeks that still waddles everywhere because her legs don't want to work like she wanted them to all the time.

At least, she thought with glee, she was out of her everyday diapers as she had potty trained herself as soon as her bladder could actually physically allow her to go when she wanted. Though she was still forced to wear a diaper during the night as accidents happened which Kazeshini couldn't physically help.

For now, she was just trying to forget all the embarrassing accidents she had caused as a baby because her body couldn't actually physically hold anything in, everything just seemed to happen.

Getting away from those scarring memories and thoughts, Kazeshini dragged her stuffed tiger which she had dubbed as her "Albino Tigger" outside to lay in the warm sun for her nap. So, laying Tigger down on the ground like Trafalgar Law and Bepo, she fell asleep warm and happy.

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Chapter Six

(Two Years Old)

Kazeshini was finally shown a small little dojo area in the small house that they lived in and her Tou-san began showing her beginners kata's that Kazeshini practiced religiously. She hadn't done anything like it before because she already had things to occupy her time and now she actually knew what she was supposed to be doing.

She was slightly annoyed however, that her Tou-san wouldn't allow her to handle any of the weaponry no matter how much she pouted. Though, she did understand that a deciding factor was because she still hadn't spoken a word to her parents. Truthfully she hated speaking because her tongue didn't want to properly cooperate and anytime she tried speaking when in private, it came out with some sort of annoying lisp or she fumbled the words. It annoyed Kazeshini enough that she had decided not to speak until she could speak correctly without any sort of childish lisp.

Also, Kazeshini was old enough to actually help a little more with her Kaa-san around the house instead of being underfoot all the time. Her mother, Kazeshini had to admit, was pretty awesome at giving a dozen little tasks that could be performed by the growing toddler.

With this, Kazeshini also allowed to stand on a chair to help while in the kitchen. Kazeshini was allowed to stir and measure foodstuffs though she still wasn't allowed near any knives, which was smart if she were an actual toddler without the memories o a young adult. It was awfully annoying for Kazeshini sometimes that her new parents were so responsible that they didn't hand a small toddler and sort of sharp weapon.

This also started the point where Kazeshini had grabbed her little ink brush and some old paper to come give begging looks at her mother. The woman had gotten quite good at deciphering such needy looks and understood what Kazeshini was trying to get without ever speaking a word.

She gushed over her daughter's adorableness and sat down with Kazeshini to go over some letters. With her help, Kazeshini's progress with writing sped up exponentially now that she had a teacher to tell her how all the brush strokes were supposed to go. This in turn made Kazeshini's writing much neater and her characters began looking like little pieces of art instead of simple scribbles.

For writing practice, Kazeshini was given a blank scroll to be used however she wanted. With the scroll, Kazeshini began practicing her writing that got better and better the more she practiced. In the margins, however, Kazeshini began writing in plain English exactly what she remembered from her previous life about the manga Naruto along with anything else that she had thought interesting or would be helpful.

She knew that various make-believe techniques from across the different manga's could most likely be replicated because of the magical energy that is chakra. She just had to write down the techniques and what they accomplished so she could try replicating them.

Her days blurred together with only slightly harder kata's and more difficult and complicated chakra exercises that she made up. With chakra, she began growing the difficulty of sticking her clothes to various parts of her body to sticking her feet against walls in a modified tree walking exercise and trying to split leaves, crumble rocks, manipulate water, set tinder alight, crumple regular paper, and separate her chakra in its yin and yang equivalent before meshing it back together.

Once her hand grew even steadier, Kazeshini began drawing ink tigers. The more she practiced, the more her parents figured out her absolute fixation and obsession with the graceful animal that Kazeshini had never actually seen before and only had a single stuffed animal of, Albino Tigger.

As a gift for being so well behaved, especially as Kazeshini's parents had heard horror stories of some of the children of other families, she was given an even larger stuffed tiger. The gift was given also impart because they had seen their cute little daughter more than once napping against her smaller stuffed tiger.

When Kazeshini had received her new stuffed toy, one of the few she had received since they had gotten rid of most of the toys she had never actually used nor needed, Kazeshini nearly hugged the stuffing out of it. In her thoughts, the toy was just too adorable, soft and cuddly to not be hugged to death.

Kazeshini was constantly rubbing her cheek against the super soft fur and her mother though her daughter was quite adorable as Kazeshini dragged that stuffed animal with her practically everywhere.

With this, a small collection of stuffed tigers began growing and Kazeshini was quite happy with it. Her drawings also grew progressively better until they easily resembled the tigers she admired so much.

Kazeshini was very happy with how well she was progressing; there were no dangers and no conflict as of this moment in her life. She only needed to focus on the future troubles that she would only be able to deal with once she was older so there was no point in borrowing trouble. Even with all her training, Kazeshini wasn't really bored because it was always interesting.

She suspected that it was so interesting because she had lived another life without any sort of chakra energy that allowed for mind boggling feats that were possible in that life. Here, she was constantly entertained because the thought of doing superhuman feats was like finding you could be rich for life, except that it was so much easier to attain than trying to win any sort of jackpot from the lottery.

So, Kazeshini practiced almost religiously with her writing, reading, chakra manipulation, and with her kata's so that she could not only survive in the future, but thrive.


	3. Chapter 7-9

Chapter Seven

(Three Years Old)

"Good morning Kazeshini-chan." The girl's mother said as Kazeshini was awoken from her sleep as the older woman patted the small futon to help shake the small girl awake. Kazeshini grumbled a bit as she had been quite comfortable as she was curled up against her numerous stuffed tigers which had accumulated into quite the collection.

"Good morning Kaa-san." Kazeshini said, finally having begun speaking a little after her third birthday though only with simpler fraises as she could still stumble over her words which greatly annoyed her, before she got off her futon and began dressing for the day and folding up the futon.

Kazeshini walked outside, a yawn still on her lips, as she began her morning exercises with her mother. These exercises had grown progressively harder, especially as Kazeshini's balance had gotten better compared to when she had first started these exercises. They stretched, bending their bodies in odd and sometimes complicated configurations, before doing simple exercises to gain strength in the limbs. Kazeshini enjoyed these sessions, she loved moving in set patterns so early in the morning that brought up a sweat to her brow and reminded her of a slow dance.

After the morning exercises, Kazeshini bathed with her mother and was helped into a cute little child's yukata before her bright red hair was combed and tied up. Once dressed, Kazeshini helped her mother with making breakfast which her father complimented after eating. Once the dishes were washed and put away, Kazeshini began the few chores she helped with every single morning such as helping her mother with the laundry by scrubbing any soiled clothes with soap and a washboard.

Once the few chores were completed, which went quickly as Kazeshini wasn't expected to do too much as she was still only considered a toddler, she was given some free time which she used to practice her kata's which was supervised by her father. To go along with the progressively harder morning exercises, the kata's also grew progressively harder but not so much that she could hurt herself.

Before lunch, which Kazeshini was required to wash her hands and face before attending, she sat down with her mother to practice her kanji. Writing practice paused for lunch before picking up again after words and Kazeshini was forced to write a set of characters down at least twenty times and one wasn't to her mother's satisfaction, Kazeshini would be forced to write that same symbol another thirty times.

After writing practice, Kazeshini was whisked away by her father and forced to practice her kata's again while learning new forms. It was around this time, that Kazeshini was finally allowed to practice with weaponry, though it was all in the form of wooden practice weapons which she was forced to practice with for well over two hours each day.

To her enthusiastic grin, Kazeshini's father had given her a bokken, a wooden practice sword, and she was required to do a certain sword set a hundred times each. This meant that Kazeshini would stand in the middle of their small dojo and she would whack at the air in several repeated motions for a hundred times each for as long as it took her to finish practice.

At the end of practice, Kazeshini was usually so exhausted that her limbs would tremble from fatigue.

However, just from the thought of being able to use a sword in the future, Kazeshini felt it mandatory to continue practicing no matter the fact that she always felt like nearly giving up more than a few times from the absolute burn she felt in her muscles during and after practice. Along with practicing her kata's and sword forms, Kazeshini practiced more with her chakra. She hadn't progressed too far on the elemental manipulation but she had begun balancing sticks on the tips of her fingers and trying to create chakra strings. In conjunction with practicing her chakra, Kazeshini had also begun practicing the cat's foot technique to learn to walk silently and it had made her mother giggle before offering little tips and advice.

Kazeshini's days blurred past as she enjoyed herself while learning something new or interesting every single day.

She was also constantly sneaking into the library to read something new, especially as she had grown tall enough to reach for more books and scrolls. Kazeshini was also being taught more feminine practices like proper kimono wear, flower arranging, poetry, music, and tea ceremonies.

Though she thought of herself more of a tomboy who liked dressing nice, Kazeshini was enjoying all the feminine activities she was learning at her mother's knee.

Everything was enjoyable and fun to do which was in part because her mother was constantly giving Kazeshini something new to do so she was never bored.

Truthfully, Kazeshini blamed her spongy little brain for being so hyped up. Kazeshini constantly fed her little brain new information and she constantly wanted to learn more, never stopping as she went about her day.

Luckily, Kazeshini was perfectly alright with doing chores compared to her previous life. This was in part by the fact that she knew that any sort of temper tantrum over doing her chores would be followed by a beating that would be deemed abusive in her previous life but was viewed as perfectly acceptable in this life.

Kazeshini also knew that she was already slated to be a ninja, especially with all the preparation that had gone into her trained so far. This decision was also aided by the fact that Kazeshini knew that it would be near impossible to do anything as a civilian. Being a civilian in this world, a world where ninjas could accidentally sneeze and set a forest alight, would mean that she would be useless and helpless. So really, she had no other choice; not that she was all upset by that choice.

So, she practiced every single day without break, knowing currently that she would only be a fly buzzing annoyingly in the ear of a monster like Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama. She focused on repeating her kata's until they were practically second nature and her chakra exercises until she collapsed each night on her futon in exhaustion.

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Chapter Eight

(Four Years Old)

Kazeshini was growing up faster than her parents would have liked. They had known she was quite smart already, though she hadn't spoken at all until she was three years old unlike any other child they knew. However, they hadn't figure out exactly how smart she was until a few months after her fourth birthday when she actually began speaking instead of the short clipped words when she had turned three.

Kikyou and Ukitake Uzumaki had been married for three years before finally trying for a child, having been in an arranged marriage since Kikyou had turned fifteen and Ukitake had turned eighteen. It took another three years after they began actively trying for a child before they succeeded, however the pregnancy from the very start was difficult and dangerous for Kikyou. For some reason that the medics couldn't figure out, the pregnancy lasted three months more than the average nine month pregnancy and Kikyou could barely stand up for fear of falling over.

The birth had been even more difficult for Kikyou as she had stayed in labor for thirty-four rigorous hours with nothing to show for it. She had been exhausted and yet the baby still hadn't been delivered. The midwife was forced to call for help as Kikyou gave permission to perform a caesarian section as the midwife had determined the babe was in distress.

Right as a medic was going to cut into Kikyou's abdomen, the midwife found the child's head crowning.

The babe was born with the umbilical cord wrapped tight around its neck, but the midwife soon had it breathing and crying out and in no danger of suffocating from the cord.

Kikyou and Ukitake were proud parents, though the difficult birth had Kikyou labeled as sterile because of the major bleeding right after the birth.

They raised their daughter, who was quiet most of the time and only cried when she needed something. They knew she was already quite smart when she had begun crawling and walking within only a few months.

However, Kikyou and Ukitake had worried because their daughter hadn't spoken a word until her third birthday, and even then it had only been a few specific words.

It was a few months after Kazeshini's fourth birthday when she truly spoke while going over calligraphy with her mother, "Kaa-san, when are we going to work on chakra? I read a scroll on it already, and it seems quite important."

Kikyou and Ukitake had looked at each other in shock, Ukitake having stayed home for the day, and it was up to Kikyou to reply. "Well, my little Tora-chan, what do you want to know?"

Kazeshini just controlled her brush, continuing to practice her strokes, and only spoke when she wasn't concentrating on the character she was trying to complete. "I was just wondering when we would begin practicing with it. I know a lot of the process and I can already use a little of it, but I don't know a whole lot. I was wondering if I could get help with sensing with it, I can already use it pretty well but I can't seem to figure out how to sense anything very far away."

Ukitake was surprised and asked, "How far away are you trying to sense?"

"I can't seem to sense anything outside the house, but I can normally find both of you very easily."

Again, Kikyou and Ukitake were surprised, as it was quite a feat to sense anything with chakra; especially when she had no prior instruction on the process. That was also not included on the fact that their daughter apparently had already found her chakra and could call upon it if her words were to be believed.

Kikyou nodded and went back to her own calligraphy, like finding out that the fact her daughter could talk like an adult was perfectly normal and nothing to worry over. "Well, after practice with your father, I will set you down and we can practice for a while before your other lessons. How does that sound?"

"Thank you, Kaa-san." Kazeshini replied with a smile up at her mother before continuing to practice her calligraphy without even fidgeting.

Ukitake took his cue from his wife and just went back to read from the scroll in his hand while occasionally sipping from his tea cup, not seemingly bothered at all by his daughter suddenly speaking like a miniature adult.

That night, Kikyou beamed at her husband from their room where they were getting ready for bed, "Oh, I can't believe this! She's just so smart!"

Ukitake smiled warmly at his wife and gave her a hug, "Well, I guess there was nothing truly to worry about, now we just have to add some chakra control exercises to her already busy schedule. Though I am worried that she doesn't seem to want to play but instead train or practice your arts."

"Shush you," Kikyou mocked frowned at her husband and gave him a teasing smack on the shoulder, "We have nothing to worry about, she can always ask for a break if she wants and we can let her have as much time as she wants, however she constantly wanted to practice with me in tea ceremonies or train with you in the dojo no matter what we suggested. Just be proud that she's talking and not sticking to the same few words."

Ukitake nodded and kissed his wife's brow before guiding her to bed, "Well, I'll see if I can add some chakra exercises to her training."

Kikyou smiled widely, "That's the spirit, husband of mine! I'll even start a little on her fuinjutsu training once I see how good she is with chakra. Now, husband of mine, let's get to bed and think of how to best help our little Tora-chan tomorrow."

"Of course, wife of mine. Though little Kaze seems to be very diligent with practicing with that bokken of hers, I wouldn't be surprised when she turns out to be the best swordswoman in the entire clan."

"Well of course she'll be the best; she has you to train her!" Kikyou smiled warmly at her husband and gave him a kiss before getting in bed. "Now to bed with you, husband, and we can begin her new training in the morning."

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Chapter Nine

(Four Years Old)

Kazeshini finally felt that she could speak up without being looked at as a total genius, though she suspected that her parents thought of her as a genius anyways. Truthfully, Kazeshini just really didn't want the moniker of 'genius' attached to her name though she didn't mind being thought of as smarter than average.

She could clearly remember the genii in Naruto and how they were treated. She knew that every single one of them had something horrible happen to them because people thought they were smart and grown-up adult in children's bodies but they were still children which was always forgotten. They were always pushed to start fighting sooner than any other child, usually only taking a year in the academy before being shoved off to war such as Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi.

The first thing she asked was the one thing she would probably always have undying curiosity for, chakra. So, during calligraphy lessons with her mother, Kazeshini had asked for help with her chakra sensing abilities.

Kazeshini had continued drawing her little kanji symbols, always being careful because too much ink caused the ink to bleed, too little ink caused the lines to breaks, while too much pressure and the lines were too thick, and too little pressure caused the lines to be too thin and not look correct.

That next morning Kikyou was prepared to ask her daughter various questions at breakfast, not interrupting their morning exercises since it was a time for relaxation and peace. "So, my little tigress, what can you tell me of chakra?"

Kazeshini swallowed what was in her mouth before speaking, "Chakra is our life force mixed together from our spiritual and physical energies. Balanced and used correctly, chakra is what is used for varying techniques commonly referred to as ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu techniques. This is further spread to different techniques such as Iryo ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, nintaijutsu, kekkei ninjutsu, and nature transformation which is all performed when using chakra."

Kikyou just nodded, enjoying her own breakfast while listening to her daughter; however, by the end of Kazeshini's little speech, both Kikyou and Ukitake were reeling from the shock of their daughter speaking so articulately and with a perfect definition of chakra and what chakra could be used for.

Then, from their resulting conversation, Kazeshini was introduced to a whole slew of new chakra exercises. She was also forced to begin meditating with her father for an hour each day even though Kazeshini already meditated for a little while before bed.

Having remembered how Naruto gained mastery over Senjutsu, or the sage arts, Kazeshini didn't bother even thinking of complaining and just took to meditation with her father unlike any other child would probably ever have the patience for without falling asleep. Though it did irk her quite a bit that she would periodically fall asleep, which was a bad habit she must have acquired from meditating in her bed when she was supposed to be going to sleep.

When Kazeshini had asked her father if he was disappointed in her for falling asleep and not meditating properly, he had only replied with an indulgent smile, "The key to meditating is relaxing. By the way you were snoring; I at least know you were relaxed."

Kazeshini's education was heightened as they learned exactly how smart she was and how far she had already progressed with trying to control her chakra, which she had been practicing for two years already. So her parents began cramming in lessons on etiquette, music, geography, mathematics, science, chakra, fuinjutsu training, weapon training, cooking, survival lessons, herb lore, medical training and gardening.

Every morning Kazeshini would wake up, do her morning exercises, take a short bath, do some of her chores which included helping out in the garden and herb garden, help with breakfast, clean up after breakfast, work on calligraphy, learn the basics of fuinjutsu, and then she learned some geography and mathematics. For a break, she was guided through a tea ceremony at lunch time with her mother and father while having everything explained to her.

After that short lunch with tea, Kazeshini was taught more of the womanly arts at her mother's knee and medical arts where she was tested on the herb lore she learned earlier that morning before breakfast. Then, she went outside with her father.

Under Ukitake's guidance she did a warm up, practiced her kata's, ran for an hour, practiced with her bokken, and practiced with her new shuriken and kunai before she was allowed to cool down then take another bath.

After dinner, Kazeshini sat with her mother to practice with the instruments she had chosen: the biwa, the koto, the sanshin, and the flute. She was then given some free time to do what she wanted which usually had Kazeshini asking her mother for more fuinjutsu lessons until it was time for bed.

During the weekend, Kazeshini went out into the small wooded area behind their home to camp for a night or two with her father. There, she learned new things for survival out in the wild. When at home, she performed various tea ceremonies for her mother as well as practicing to walk, run, and even fight while dressed in kimonos and other heavy garments. Though even while practicing with her mother, Kazeshini was forced to do her various exercises every day which now included running and practicing with her new weapons.

Kazeshini enjoyed learning all the womanly arts, having been fascinated by them in her previous life. However, it struck her that it seemed like she and her mother always had to serve her father without complaints while he just sat at the table working on paperwork or fuinjutsu seals whenever he wasn't out guarding the clan head. It annoyed her that she was being forced to mend and clean his clothes, alongside all their other chores, while he was usually at the table drinking tea and doing paper work. It irked her to no end because he used his time at home to catch up on any paperwork since he had clan training with his fellow guards.


	4. Chapter 10-12

Chapter Ten

(Five Years Old)

Kazeshini was practically exhausted, she actually felt lucky now that she already knew a good portion of any theoretical work that her parents gave her. Though it seemed because she already knew it, that she sped through the work and therefore she was given even more work to get through. However, no matter how fast she went through the easier work, it always seemed as though she could never meet her parent's expectations when it came to physical standards.

She would be the first to admit that in her last life, Kazeshini wasn't the most physically fit person out there. She detested working out on her own, seeing it as a waste of time when she could be practicing her art or practicing on her cello. She hadn't been overweight or anything, since she didn't pig out on food, but she wouldn't be running any sort of marathon.

Now, Kazeshini had to exercise every single day, and while it was interesting to learn new kata, she hated having to run since it got so boring just running without doing anything else. She found doing such activities boring beyond belief. Therefore, she resolved to cheat.

For the boredom during the exercise itself, Kazeshini had devised a way to practice her chakra manipulation to create specific chakra burns on paper. She had to be very, very careful to not burn all the way through the paper but she could write like this without having to worry about unsteady hands while running. It doubled as a chakra control exercise since she had to carefully manipulate her chakra into a specific configuration before burning it on the paper but not so that the character was seen on both sides of the paper.

Also, to cheat with running so she wouldn't have to run and run and run, she turned to fuinjutsu. Having been studying under her mother for a year now, Kazeshini was well on her way to understanding the basics of fuinjutsu and even some intermediate fuinjutsu. It just seemed to make sense to her. Fuinjutsu was described as many different things in the different pages she had read on narutopedia or even in the stories on fanfiction. But to her, it was like symbolism and a tiny bit of math made into art.

Fuinjutsu was an imprint of her soul on paper, what symbol meant most to her inked down on paper. Each symbol was part of an 'equation' which flowed from what how she wanted something done to what the output would be. Her best example would be X-number + N-number had to equal Y-number. However Y could be something as simple as storage, or it could mean something as complicated as transportation from place to another. While X and N would always have multiple symbols to get to the answer of Y since creating a closed fourth dimension connected to paper for a storage scroll isn't as simple as drawing a few squiggles down.

The real kicker was that the chakra you added to a seal had to agree with how the X+N equaled Y or the seal could blow up in your face. Chakra was like a really strict math teacher: you had what you wanted (though sometimes what you wanted had to be changed anyways because it had too complicated of an equation) and if all your work to create the equation didn't match up exactly to what you wanted as the outcome, it failed.

If that wasn't bad enough, because nothing was too simple, seals were also based a lot on symbolism. You could have twenty different symbols meaning nearly the exact same thing however each symbol could also have another meaning that could unbalance the whole equation. Through this, all those dozens of other near identical symbols (like a blue dot outlined with azure or a blue dot outlined in sapphire) were all created from dozens of other fuinjutsu masters. The way to become a fuinjutsu master was creating your own soul language to put on paper as fuinjutsu. This meant that while you're memorizing the thousands of other fuinjutsu symbols created by previous fuinjutsu users, you were creating your own fuinjutsu symbols and symbolism to help create what you wanted on paper.

Creating your own fuinjutsu language helped to compact large scale fuinjutsu works, and since only the creator knows exactly what a certain made up symbol means to them, then it was nearly impossible to plagiarize seals that had been compacted unless you knew what the compact seal was actually supposed to be when enlarged.

Luckily, Kazeshini was able to have help when first learning seals since Kikyou helped to show generally how everything could and couldn't be linked together. It just didn't help that one symbol could be linked with a hundred other symbols but when two symbols were linked they could only linked to category A symbols but not category B even though when separate, the two symbols could link together with both category A and B symbols.

Luckily, for part of her own private fuinjutsu, Kazeshini could cheat and use written English. This cut out a lot of the work that other fuinjutsu masters went through trying to basically create their own written language in the form of various symbols. For her own personal fuinjutsu Kazeshini had figured out that using barcodes (like on store bought products) helped to create various specific but ultimately simple and fast fuinjutsu works with a spattering of English characters to give some definition to the seals. For more complicated works, Kazeshini was thinking of using the double helix like DNA to help create connected but very, very complicated seals.

However, learning all of this and creating her own barcode system for quick seals were all very confusing and often left Kazeshini to glare darkly at her fuinjutsu work which forever seemed to like to befuddle her.

However, with all this practice, Kazeshini was finally starting to get the gist of everything. So to cheat at the one thing she truly hated and though as a major waste of time that she could be doing something else with no matter how much it might prepare her for the future, Kazeshini started her first real fuinjutsu project. It was an actual project, not just abstract ideas with the barcode system that she could easily imprint on paper to get the proper width and pattern with chakra.

Her 'equation' would eventually equal out to .05 degrees of gravity added against her entire body every time she added chakra along with the addition to showing exactly how many levels she added as well as an easy to use activation/deactivation sequence that only she would be able to use.

It took a few weeks of finagling to finally get the seal correct. When she finally did activate it, the fuinjutsu work that took up an entire five foot scroll, compacted to a few little barcode lines and squiggles on her right ankle. It had a small little number in the middle of the compacted seal, which in turn was only two inches long and one inch tall, that was currently showing a little number one. Kazeshini used a bit of chakra to increase the level four more times and it felt like she was walking through water with how much resistance she was fighting against. Knowing it would be too much; Kazeshini released the seal twice and kept it so it was only at level two.

By the end of the day, she was truly exhausted and had almost fallen asleep at dinner. Her parents had been amused, both of them having already figured out exactly what their daughter had done since it was actually a secret coming of age ritual in the clan. They thought it was hilarious that Kazeshini was already starting to cheat so early in her life by using some sort of gravity and/or weight and/or resistance seal, while they personally had only begun figuring out such a seal when they were preteens.

Being in a society of seal-masters meant that every single Uzumaki became at least proficient in the making of seals, and using a weight or gravity or resistance seal was one all children would eventually think up to speed up their training.

Ukitake and Kikyou sent Kazeshini off to bed early and sent each other sly little smirks thinking of their fellow clansmen's faces when they learned exactly how old Kazeshini was when their daughter created the seal that marked her as an adult in the eyes of the clan as a seal master. Though they had both secretly agreed not to tell anyone until Kazeshini was at least eight so that she wouldn't be shipped off with a team to fight or do jobs that the clan was hired for so early in life.

It didn't help that Ukitake had almost been killed during a fight against the Uchiha when he and the clan head had gone to a meeting with their allies, the Senju. They didn't want their only child out fighting just yet.

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Chapter Eleven

(Six Years Old)

On Kazeshini's sixth birthday, she was finally forcibly dragged to meet the other clan children. About a dozen other children had been invited to her birthday ranging from her age to a few preteens. She was considered the proper age to truly start socializing with those of her own age as she was no longer considered a little kid who needed the full care of her parents.

She was given a gift in private which was a massive stuffed tiger, twice as big as she was, and she had bowed politely to her parents before putting it in her room and being dragged to the small party. They had obviously given her the new stuffed animal since she was growing a bit too big to lean comfortably against her other two stuffed tigers. Those two now had honorary placements on the shelves in her room. The rest of the room was decorated with little pieces of art that got replaced every time she got better with drawing and drew something she like better.

For her birthday, Kazeshini received plenty of the traditional gifts of fruit and melons along with more specialized gifts of sumi (ink sticks), high quality paper, and some new weaponry. Kazeshini thanked everyone with bows and polite smiles, before finally being moved over to have fun with the other children while the adults talked.

Truthfully, her birthday was annoying. She hated having to socialize with the other kids who, to her, acted like hare-brained twits who couldn't hold an actual conversation without using improper grammar every other word.

She had, instead, enjoyed her private birthdays with just her parents, where she was given the day off after receiving a few gifts, and she wasn't forced to socialize.

Her birthday also marked the day when other families began inviting her over for play dates. Frankly, Kazeshini knew that the other adults were trying to see if she would be worth any sort of betrothal contract to their own spawn. Even Kikyou and Ukitake invited plenty of other children, trying to see which ones they approved of over the others.

Kazeshini grew annoyed that her training was constantly being interrupted as frequently as it was, and it irritated her that all these simple minded children would gawk over how princess-like she behaved before beating every single one of them in any designated sparring match.

It also didn't help that Kazeshini began speaking slightly in third person when she was being formal, especially after having met the clan head at her birthday. The man had just exuded an aura that was so profound, so commanding, that she tried emulating his behavior. That tidbit was compounded by the fact that she had admired Sesshomaru from the manga Inuyasha, and how proper the demon had acted; though she tried to be pleasant instead of frosty or cruel.

"This girl wishes to continue her training without interruptions." Kazeshini spoke up at breakfast, speaking as formally as possible to hopefully get her way. Having had a play date the day before, Kazeshini had come home with nerves stretched thin and a very grumpy attitude.

"Well, Kaze-chan, we can see if we can stop taking as many invitations, though you must go to various social gatherings." Ukitake allowed, having seen how annoyed and grumpy his daughter had been the previous day after coming back home. He had watched as she locked herself in her room and meditated, trying to relax but always seeming to twitch and flinch at any sudden noises.

Kazeshini bowed, "This girl finds such an arrangement agreeable." She spoke calmly and politely, thanking the heavens that her father was putting a stop to the annoying play dates, and calmly sipped at her tea before leaving the table to start gathering and washing dirty dishes.

Kikyou could barely hold in a squeal at how cute she thought her daughter to be, speaking so polite and acting so graceful. Their daughter was truly trying to act like a little princess and it didn't help that she had that cute little princess hair cut with bangs just above her eyes, side bangs right at her shoulders, and the rest of her long hair put up with cute but durable hair ornaments.

Kikyou helped her daughter with the dishes before they sat at the table to work more on calligraphy and fuinjutsu. They both sat in seiza while working diligently, Kikyou writing out fuinjutsu tags for her husband and Kazeshini practicing her own fuinjutsu work.

Every week, Kikyou would challenge her daughter with something new to work on and Kazeshini was forced to work on the project until she finished it, though she was allowed to ask for help. Her geography lessons had turned into history lessons and Kikyou imparted all the history of the Uzumaki clan that she could into her daughter. Kazeshini enjoyed these times as they went at a slow, relaxing pace as Kazeshini had asked if she could draw the different pieces of history.

In the main hallway, there were now over a dozen different battle scenes drawn in ink that had been pinned up from the history lessons. Ukitake had even gifted or sold many of the extra ink drawings since Kazeshini drew at least one new painting a day.

It had embarrassed her something fierce when her family had been invited to the head of the clan's home and had seen a handful of her paintings hanging on one of their walls. The paintings themselves were beautiful with one being of cherry blossoms blooming with a traditional Japanese castle in the background, another was of a lazy kitsune laying under a tree wrapped with shimenawa (rope) and shide (white folded paper in zigzags, usually at shrines), the final piece was of a partial willow tree with two cranes under the flowing branches.

Kazeshini had created her signature marking to include fuinjutsu so that the painting couldn't be ruined or destroyed easily as well as keeping the ink from fading.

She had blushed red at seeing her ink paintings in such a position of honor and prestige, meaning that others considered them works of art and not just some little kid's work like finger painting. Kazeshini was then commissioned by the clan head to create another but this time of just a simple oak tree, a painting of a river, and a painting of a dragon.

Kazeshini spent some of her free time figuring out how she would draw these commissioned pieces, working herself into a tizzy over it, before sitting down and unfurling a piece of scroll six feet tall and three feet wide. She drew the dragon that seemed to be swimming with graceful loops in its serpentine body; she detailed the scales, the claws and the teeth so well that it seemed to disguise itself in the churning waters before finishing the dragon's head with powerful eyes and whiskers to wizen the dragon. She then drew a simple but sturdy oak on a thinner piece of scroll, though only a foot shorter. Finally, Kazeshini finished the river with the scroll at the same size as the scroll with the tree.

For her work, she was given a tidy sum of 2,500 ryo for the art work (250 US dollars) and a steady stream of commissions soon came her way as apparently her work was given to the Senju clan head as a gift.

It was all kinds of embarrassing until she got used to it with a shrug, though it was interesting for Kikyou and Ukitake to see their daughter as famous for something that wasn't actually ninja related.

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Chapter Twelve

(Eight Years Old)

Now, having turned eight, Kazeshini was finally allowed to join the other clan children in supervised training until they were deemed good enough to start going on missions. The 'academy' wasn't much of an academy as it was a group of small kids all together on a training field where they were paired up and taught a bit of teamwork. It was expected more of the parents to impart critical knowledge onto the various children while the 'academy' was used more to see how well a child was doing and see how fast they could start taking missions.

The 'academy' was more commonly referred to as a training camp, and that was all it consisted of. Kazeshini was currently running laps with the other kids of her age, though she was running laps around them as she just seemed to be so much faster even with her gravity/resistance seal on level thirty (1.5 G's higher than regular gravity).

Within the training camp, she had quickly risen in the score board compared to her fellow trainees, mainly since she saw the whole training camp as a waste of her time and she wanted to get out as soon as humanly possible. Therefore, she was running circles around other kids, throwing quicker with better accuracy (though she didn't really like throwing weapons), was proficient with a sword compared to most other kids who just swung their bokken around like sticks, and completed any written tests the instructors saw fit to give them with full marks.

Therefore, within exactly three months since entering the 'academy' she was put on a team of experienced clan members who were there to help her out in the field without getting her or themselves killed. They wouldn't be babysitting her on missions, but they would watch over her since she was still inexperienced.

To Kazeshini, who was annoyed by the sniveling and whining brats at the makeshift 'academy,' she was quite thankful for being let out early with a Uzushio hitae-ate with the Uzumaki swirl front and center on the shiny metal. The hitae-ate, Kazeshini had learned, wasn't what it was going to mean during Naruto's time, but it was instead meant as an actual piece of armor to prevent easy arrow shots to the forehead as well as identification during battle since friendly fire wasn't actually friendly.

The softer, womanly arts took a backseat as weapons training, taijutsu, and ninjutsu took precedence. Her nice child yukatas and kimonos were traded out for sturdy battle kimonos and pants while her bokken was put away as she was gifted with her very own sword set. She had been practicing with the nodachi, katana, and tanto so she was gifted with a full sized katana (which was large enough against her small frame that it acted as the nodachi she truly wanted) and regular tanto which she could grow with. She was also gifted with a child sized naginata and child sized bow, mainly as part of tradition since she had only passing familiarity with both weapons.

Kazeshini had no plans for the future as of yet, since she still had no idea exactly when in the timeline she was at save for the warring states era. She also only knew that because the Senju and Uchiha were still fighting each other so no Konoha had been formed. It didn't help that she wasn't high enough in the clan to be able to join in on any political talk so she had no idea if Uchiha Madara was the clan head nor if Senju Hashirama was clan head.

Who was she to ask about politics when she was practically a nobody in the clan hierarchy and whose father was only a guard to the clan head without any sort of influence whatsoever. She might have been smart, as well as an adult in a child's body, but she had practically no status since she was also just beginning her career as a ninja for the clan.

Instead of thinking of the 'what ifs' and planning for carious future problems she really wanted to change, Kazeshini focused on how exactly she was going to live to make those changes. She certainly didn't want to worship Jashin and become some psycho mass murderer like Hidan from Yugakure nor did she was to use the Earth Grudge Fear Technique used by Kakuzu from Takigakure (though she wasn't even sure if the technique had even been created at this point in time), Kazeshini wasn't even going to dare go down the path of the Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique used by Orochimaru.

The only thing interesting she had readily available was fuinjutsu. It was the only thing that would allow for her to live without having to be insane and totally unethical. It definitely helped that she had been practicing her chakra control for years, practically ever since she first fell for her chakra, and she was even good enough to use basic Iryo jutsu.

Her plans went slow though, since she was constantly training with her two older team members, Uzumaki Itsui and Uzumaki Yuri who were both in their teens and the team leader Uzumaki Hisane who was in his early twenties. Every weekday, they were taking small little missions, missions Kazeshini knew would eventually be classified as d-rank once Hashirama got around to creating the village of Konoha, but they were now just piled together in a group labeled as easy missions.

The group worked on teamwork plenty as well as their own individual strengths, and Kazeshini found that she was definitely the fastest in her team after one team practice.

"Alright team, I know Itsui and Yuri have already created that seal which means they came of age within the fuinjutsu circles, but I think Kazeshini-chan should be told so she won't fall behind and get hurt because she can't keep up during a mission." said Hisane early one morning at practice.

Itsui and Yuri grumbled a bit since, to them, it seemed like Kazeshini was getting special favor about being told the secret to being viewed as a seal master within the clan without having to truly work for it, but accepted anyways since they didn't want the 'baby' of the team accidently getting hurt or killed while out on the field.

"I'm slightly confused and I would appreciate it if you would elaborate further." Kazeshini asked politely.

Hisane twitched at Kazeshini's formal language, accepting it as one of her weird quirks though thankful that she only spoke in third person when trying to be overly respectful. He knew it was just a simple quirk just as Itsui always had to be chewing something and how Yuri would embroider anything anytime she was standing still. "Well, everyone on this team has some sort of gravity or weight seal on them that helps us to survive, especially as such a small clan against powerhouses like the Uchiha's. Now, I won't give you any sort of seal but I will help you create it if you ask for it."

Kazeshini gave a polite little bow but replied, "I thank you but I already have such a seal. I created a gravity seal before I turned five."

Hisane raised a disbelieving eyebrow, "Where is your seal then?"

Kazeshini raised her pant leg and rolled down her sock to show the little mark on her ankle. "I have been raising the level of the seal for years while releasing it once a week for a day to get used to the speed and strength increase. I have been doing this for years and for every level of the seal, I gain 5% increase in body weight against my body in resistance so I feel like I walk with boulders tied to my feet. This means that I do not have actual weight bearing down on my body which could be detrimental to my growth." Kazeshini showed the small little English number thirty which she translated for her team leader, "I cannot do more at the moment as I have recently added another level to the seal. I have learned that after the first fifteen levels that adding two levels at a time is much easier and I suspect I will be able to add more levels at a given time in the future but I will not for now since I will not risk hurting myself."

Yuri choked, "Yah, what is twenty extra pounds compared to eighty extra pounds. Here I thought I was super smart having figured out the secret to being considered a fuinjutsu master in the clan before leaving the training camp but you've had yours for years!"

Itsui nodded, "Well, I've had mine for a few months and I'm nowhere near fifty pounds all pressing against my body without flooding my muscles with chakra to carry such weight all day, every day."

"I have been forced to use another seal that stores yin-chakra to heal my body so that I do not hurt myself in the process. I would be severely disappointed to be shorter than average as my body could not handle such resistance or have weak bones for the entirety of my life. The Uzumaki chakra and vitality also help me to keep from remaining hurt."

Hisane just chuckled at his two younger teammate's gob smacked faces before ordering his team to release the different seals and do a hundred laps around the village. Normally, with each wearing their gravity or weight seals, they were quite close when running with only Hisane being the fastest and Itsui coming out in second which forced their two teammates to work harder to catch up. Without the seals, Kazeshini left Itsui and Yuri in the dust while just nipping at the heels of the team leader. After the hundred laps, Kazeshini was left to work on her weaponry skills with Hisane while their two teammates hurried to finish their laps.


	5. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

(Nine Years Old)

The entire team was out on a mission right now, and it bored Kazeshini half to death. They had been hired to help a civilian family by guarding their ship and goods. The entire team was currently guarding the ship while it was out at sea and Kazeshini was currently playing solitaire with a handmade card deck that she had created. Each card was made to be used as a weapon if needed, Kazeshini felt as though one could never have enough weapons and cards were just another weapon she could use on the chance that it might save her life.

A sea gull chirped from high above them and Kazeshini slowly flipped a card over from the small deck of cards in her hands. "Fuck!"

With a cry of anger, Kazeshini threw her cards up in the air as her game ended and she lost not even halfway through the deck.

Itsui grinned and came over to watch as Kazeshini collapsed on her back with a grumpy huff. "Lost again? What was that, the sixth time in a row?"

Yuri chuckled at her friends and teammates, "Nope, I've been counting her games in between watching the sea, that would be the ninth time she lost in a row."

Hisane chuckles filtered down from where he seemed to be meditating up on the crow's nest of the ship.

Kazeshini mock glared at her comrades, "So what if I have crappy luck at card games, at least I always beat you, you always lose 'cause you don't have a poker face."

Itsui clutched his chest in mock pain and gave Kazeshini a hurt look, "How could you be so cruel to me? I have excellent luck at card games!"

"Nope," Yuri mocked as she sat down on a bit of railing overlooking the side of the ship, "You're only good when you cheat and we always know when you cheat."

Itsui went over to cultivate mushrooms on his own, a pout quite prevalent on his face, "You're all so cruel to me!"

Yuri and Kazeshini shared a look until Kazeshini collected her cards so none were lost. "So, Kaze-chan, why are you playing cards anyway? I was just wondering since you don't normally like playing cards."

Kazeshini just shrugged and put the card deck away in her pouch. "I got bored of drawing and I wouldn't dare right any new fuinjutsu while on an unstable ground, the ship rocks too much for me to feel comfortable to try drawing out experimental seals."

Hisane butted in while looking down at his younger teammates, "Which I agree with!"

Kazeshini only gave her team leader a raised eyebrow, normally during training the man was a harsh and serious taskmaster but his personality relaxed a bit when out on a mission. She assumed it was because it was how he coped in such situations, or it might be to lure any enemy combatants into a false sense of superiority.

"Well, I got tired of drawing the ocean and the ship and anything else my mind came up with, so I started playing cards. Now I'm a bit too frustrated to continue and so I'm gonna train a bit."

Itsui seemed to have cobbled together his 'hurt' pride and asked, "Train, with what? We're out in the middle of the ocean and we shouldn't really expend chakra on a mission when it isn't needed."

"I was just going to go through my sword forms."

Itsui shivered, "You seem entirely _too_ fond of sharp pointy objects."

Yuri gave a giggle and Hisane chuckled while Kazeshini gave Itsui a well deserved eyebrow raise which seemed to show more than enough mockery as it was more than appropriate for a shinobi or kunoichi to be a little more than fond of sharp objects. In Kazeshini's mind, one could never have enough weapons because she knew that chakra exhaustion was a very real and very dangerous thing as a ninja, and weapons could help keep her from reaching that point which could be a major deciding factor in any fight.

Kazeshini sighed and walked to the middle of the deck, a point on the ship where the sailors rarely hung around because they were always off working elsewhere on the ship. A simple cut of her finger on a small pin specially sewn onto her kunai pouch so she wouldn't have to bite her thumb for the blood sacrifice; Kazeshini unsealed her training sword as she didn't need to draw out her actual sword when training. It helped to not draw out an actual sword when on a ship around mostly civilians so as not to worry them and make them nervous of a small girl carrying around live steel.

For the next few hours, Kazeshini went through her forms, mindlessly so, and only paid attention so that her form was correct and proper. Her training sword on the other hand, without any sailors on the ship having noticed, had dropped the ship down in the water line. The only thing keeping Kazeshini from crashing through the wooden deck was the fact that she had etched seals on it before and made sure not to go jumping around with her wooden training blade.

Currently, she was swinging around a wooden blade that had been etched with seals to increase its weight until it was as heavy as an actual eighty foot oak. Kazeshini was careful when swinging around the training sword as it was too heavy for her to control it when she was going for speed. So, she went for control while trying to build up her strength.

With another swing, sweat dripped from her brow and she gasped for air as her muscles burnt from the strain. She took a step, shifting the position of her feet, and began a new set of practice moves until she reached an exact hundred of going over the same set.

Once finished, she sealed the practice sword away and took deep gulps from a water bottle she had sitting on the floor next to where she was practicing. She wanted to get strong, and even though she was forced to use chakra to help augment her strength, it was still difficult and straining to train with such a heavy blade.

Compared to others in the clan who practiced the sword, they didn't weigh their blades more than a few pounds extra, all wanting to practice their speed and technique. However Kazeshini had thought that there must be some method to the madness of a weighted sword and had etched seals onto the practice sword so that she could practice. It had done remarkable things to her sword play, and while her technique was still a tad sloppy in the middle of a fight, the finesse would only come with time and experience.

Taking a break, as her arms were currently shaking and the rest of her body was sore from exertion, Kazeshini stretched a bit to keep her muscles from going stiff before climbing the rigging to sit next to Hisane.

"So, Taicho, how far from Giugen?"

"Not too far, just another day of sailing. Be on the watch out tomorrow though, I have the good experience that a ship carrying merchandise such as this one, will most likely be ambushed by either pirates or other shinobi a little before we get to port. They like to hang around the area as it makes it easier to get a ship instead of having to try tracking it down which is harder to do." Hisane answered easily while looking like he was halfway to napping.

Kazeshini nodded and looked up at the seagull flying circles around the ship and the wispy clouds that decorated the sky.

She felt stretched thin, as though too little butter across a too large piece of bread. Her body wasn't exhausted, but it was her mind and spirit that was exhausted.

For a while now, Kazeshini knew that she would be forced to do something about all that she knew would happen in the future. It wasn't that she was being forced with a blade at her back or anything like that, but her conscience wouldn't allow her to turn away from such devastation. She knew that all the characters, all those people, would go through terrible circumstances if she didn't somehow step in and help. Though she still didn't actually know what she would be doing.

Kazeshini knew for a fact that she had no idea where in the timeline she was at save for the warring clan era. She knew that too much change could make it so that the future was completely different from all her future knowledge, but she also didn't know how time would react to her influence. She didn't know if her interference would throw things so far out to the left field that people might not be born or not be in the right place to save someone's life; she also didn't know if time was firm and that things would progress in a familiar path no matter her meddling.

It terrified her that she could cause the butterfly to create a disaster, yet she knew that she needed to help because her conscience wouldn't allow her to do otherwise.

Kazeshini sighed deeply, ignoring the questioning look from her team leader and instead pulled out a jutsu scroll that she had borrowed from her parents. It detailed a futon jutsu that would allow the user to spit out slices of sharpened wind to cut the target from ten feet away but the technique couldn't go much farther.

Not daring to spit out copious amounts of chakra in the name of practice, which would light up the ship like the sun to any decent chakra sensor when out in the middle of the sea, Kazeshini just went over the mechanics of the technique.

Once the sun fell, the team took turns on watch and Kazeshini pulled the second to last shift. She was awoken from her sleep by Yuri who took the second shift and Kazeshini yawned a bit before getting out of her hammock, as she hadn't wanted to sleep on the deck or on a bed which Kazeshini assumed had to be infested with mites or other bedbugs.

With a yawn, Kazeshini stretched a bit and went out onto the deck to keep watch. She shivered as the cool night air chilled her skin, as she was only wearing a battle kimono with mesh armor underneath. She wasn't wearing any traditional shinobi armor like the rest of her team because she would only outgrow it within a year and it would be a waste to have to spend money to replace it. The armor she would wear would be created by her, and she wanted it to be perfect.

At home, Kazeshini was already practicing the art of the blacksmith, which being a strong kunoichi with plenty of chakra helped immensely. In her previous life, she had loved reading and watching videos about interesting but altogether useless things. Well, the things she learned were pretty much useless in her previous life but held plenty of weight in her current one. With a bit of practice, and half remembered knowledge, Kazeshini had started building a forge in her backyard to make her own armor and weapons. It was plenty of trial and error, more error than success at the moment and more expensive than she had thought it would be, but Kazeshini was determined to create her own personal sword.

She wanted her weapon to mean something, not to have something she bought from another blacksmith. Kazeshini knew that she could create weapons to rival the best of blacksmiths, all because she had knowledge pilfered from her previous world that could be combined together to create something better than anything in use today. However, the day that she finally created a weapon that would meet her expectations was far out in the future by at least a few years even if she abused various clone techniques and abused the use of chakra to simulate the strength and endurance of a true blacksmith.

Kazeshini looked around the sea and noticed a slight glimmer in the horizon, with narrowed eyes, Kazeshini sharpened her senses and sighed as she could feel the chakra of some sort of person waiting to ambush the ship. The person trying to hide, but not really succeeding, was still a ways out but Kazeshini would have to alert the team leader if the person came any closer.

A few minutes later, she felt chakra spike in the opposite direction of the person she was monitoring and she scowled darkly. With a quick chakra sequence that Hisane had made sure she knew and would wake up alert to, she had her entire team awake and coming out onto the deck alert and ready for anything.

"What is it, Kaze-chan?" Hisane asked but it was a redundant question since he was already using his own senses, which were quite a bit better than Kazeshini's own.

"I felt a chakra signal, from what I assume is a civilian but I can be sure, and then a chakra spike from what I assume is a shinobi in the opposite direction. I felt it prudent to alert the team just to be safe."

Hisane patted Kazeshini's head and nodded, "Good call, alright team, prepare for some combat. Yuri, Itsui guard the ship. Little Kaze-chan and I will be going out to greet these shinobi. Let's see if we can trip this trap and turn it on our would be ambushers."

"Hai, Taicho!" Yuri, Itsui and Kazeshini answered before Kazeshini and Hisane jumped from the deck of the ship to the sea.

"Alright little Kaze-chan, this will be your first combat and I can tell these guys aren't all that strong so it should be relatively alright. Just be careful and watch your back and you should be okay. Now, weapons out and be prepared to engage."

Kazeshini gave a short nod, nervousness making the gesture short and jerky as her muscles seemed to want to lock up. Half terrified, since she had never actually been in a fight against enemy shinobi who would be aiming to kill her, Kazeshini focused as much of her attention on her sword which she had already unsealed and was ready to unsheathe.

They ran silently across the calm ocean waters, the stars still out and the moon barely a sliver of light in the sky, until Hisane used quick hand signs too fast for Kazeshini to decipher. With a roar of water, a shinobi who was crouched low on a small raft was flipped into the suddenly churning and dangerous waters of the ocean.

Kazeshini cut the chakra to her feet and slipped silently into the waters of the sea, letting all the attention stay on Hisane as she used careful bursts of chakra to propel herself forward while underwater. It was silent while underwater and nearly so dark that she couldn't see in front of her face. The only assurance she had of being under her target was the chakra signal that had suddenly spiked as the enemy stopped trying to hide his or her chakra since they had already been found out.

With a short but strong burst of chakra, Kazeshini was propelled right out of the water with a loud splash and her ears were suddenly tuned to the sound of grunts and a few calls of the enemy shinobi trying to use some team formation against Hisane. Kazeshini's sudden explosion from the water startled the man she had appeared behind and her sword met no resistance until the blade cut into cloth, flesh and bone.

Kazeshini flinched as she truly realized what she had done, not really realizing that she had killed another person until he was already dead and sinking into the ocean. It had all been like training and she had just reacted like she had practiced before while in the safety of Uzushio. Kazeshini gagged and nearly lost what was in her stomach.

"You bitch!"

"Kaze, move!"

Kazeshini hadn't registered the angry cry of one of the enemy shinobi but dodged at the command of her team leader.

"Pull yourself together, Kaze! I can't have you freezing in the middle of combat! Get it together!" Hisane called out from where he was engaging two shinobi at once.

Kazeshini could barely bring her blade up in time to block the downward slash of the kunai that was being pressed down on her from the third shinobi that had attacked her for killing one of the group. She flinched at the killing intent aimed her way and only just dodged a jutsu that had been aimed to kill her. With tears flowing down her cheeks, Kazeshini slipped underwater and maneuvered herself to be able to slash her attacker at the hamstrings.

The shinobi collapsed and Kazeshini could only slash the man's neck, blood splattering across her face even as the man sunk into the ocean just like his companion before him.

Hisane finished off his own opponents and came over to pat Kazeshini on the head, "You did well."

Kazeshini didn't even look away from where the body of the man she had just killed disappeared into the dark waters of the ocean. Then, with a violent body reaction, Kazeshini threw up and kept throwing up until she was dry heaving with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It's alright, you did just fine. Everything is good, and you're going to be fine." Hisane murmured even as he rubbed Kazeshini's back while trying to calm her down.

Once she was calmed down, Kazeshini wiped her mouth and looked to her team captain, "Was it supposed to be so easy? It was just like in training, I cut them down just like I do during practice. It was so easy, shouldn't it be harder? I hate that it was so easy, it should be harder; and I feel so horrible. They had to have a family! Parents, wives, children! And I just cut them down as easily as if it were a training log during practice!"

Kazeshini was working herself up into hysterics until Hisane pulled her close and looked her in the eye as he kneeled down to her level. "Killing should never be taken lightly, and you did the right thing because these men would have hurt your teammates and your own family without second thought. The men and women that you kill will always weigh down on you, and you should remember that weight so that you never forget the weight of a life. As long as you fight and kill to protect your family and others, I know that you will always be able to bear the weight of the responsibility of taking a life. You did good, you did good, Kazeshini, and I will never tell you different."

Kazeshini calmed down during Hisane's speech and sealed her sword away.

"Now, let's head to the ship and get some rest, we still have a little while before we dock." Hisane clutched at Kazeshini's shoulder and helped guide her over the now calm waters of the ocean, an ocean that looked as though nothing had changed even when it had swallowed four men down to the depths.

Kazeshini stared blankly at the dark waters, her chakra keeping her on the surface without conscience thought, and fisted her blood covered hands. She hadn't quite understood the actual weight of having to kill another person. In her previous life, she had lived as a civilian and had never even contemplated killing anyone. Now, she wasn't even a teenager yet and her hands were already stained with blood.

Determined, Kazeshini vowed to herself that no matter how many lives she had to take, no matter how many lives were cut short at her hands that she would never indiscriminately kill. She vowed that she always think of the weight of a life and she promised to herself that she would never kill just because she could or because someone was in the way.

With her determination renewed, Kazeshini's steps became a tad more assured and her confidence in herself restored. Though she was still quite a bit leery at the fact that she would have to touch the same blade that had taken those two lives, just the thought of having to clean the blood off the blade made her queasy and guilt ridden, though she knew she would have to get used to it to continue with this path that she walked. As a kunoichi and as a person who would try to change the future for the better, Kazeshini knew this was just a stumble on the long road that was her current path in life.


	6. Chapter 14

(Ten Years Old)

Kazeshini stalked carefully through the foliage while making sure not to leave any trails in the mud of what she knew would eventually be named Mizugakure. The Mizuki clan had been grouping up against the Uzumaki and Kazeshini had gained enough status to go on such missions.

That heightened status came from the fact that a variety of the missions she and her team had gone on in the last two months had all been accidentally miss-ranked and had gone from what was supposed to be relatively easy missions to being near impossible, and deathly missions that had nearly gotten her and her team killed. With excellent planning from the team captain and they had all gotten out of these missions relatively unscathed though Itsui had a broken leg that would take a few weeks to heal even with Iryo jutsu.

Kazeshini was also glad that she no longer had to go on glorified fetch quests or body guard missions. Her excellent stealth and disguise techniques had been noted and as such, she had received the mission she was currently on. She remembered her previous world and how ninja were while in feudal Japan, those ninja were exactly what she wanted to be. Kazeshini wasn't aiming to be some sort of glorified wrecking ball where the clan pointed and suddenly a dozen 'ninja' had changed the landscape. That's not to say that she didn't like all those large and flashy techniques, but she wanted to be a true ninja. Kazeshini wanted to get in and out of somewhere unseen and undetected like a ghost after either pilfering all the goods or committing an assassination that never actually looked like an assassination.

True, she had at first not had any true feelings for killing other than apprehension, but after the required desensitization training and her first out of village mission where she had killed a pair of enemy shinobi, she was prepared to always choose to protect herself and those close to her. It also helped that she and her team had taken a few missions to eliminate a few bandit groups so that she no longer froze at the sight of blood being spilled so she didn't risk the team on a mission where a shinobi could take advantage of a flinch during battle.

Being prepared to kill without hesitation didn't mean that she was heartless. She had already cried her little heart out for the lives she had taken, and with the help of her parents she had build a small little shrine where she lit incense and prayed for the people she killed. After having seen her parents for the first time after that first mission, Kazeshini had cried for hours with snot dripping from her nose and eyes so puffy it had been amazing that she could even see. Her Uzumaki generic purple eyes had been bloodshot and she didn't sleep well for weeks though the talk given by her team leader had helped quite a bit.

Over the year since that first out of village mission, her speed had nearly tripled through the rigorous training with her team and on her own, and her use of the nodachi (though she still used a modified katana since she was it easily compared to a nodachi on her small body) had become something to be feared by her teammates even though Hisane and Kazeshini's father could still beat her without too much effort. Kazeshini had also taken a short apprenticeship with a medic-nin, expanding on the medical knowledge her mother had taught her as well as the mismatch of medical knowledge she knew from her previous life, and Kazeshini had learned that she hated working in any sort of clinic or hospital.

Instead of working at a hospital or clinic, Kazeshini instead incorporated her new medical knowledge into her fighting style. She used the various pressure points while fighting to her advantage, much like a Hyuuga would with Tenketsu, and targeted these points viciously. Kazeshini focused on a quick style to hit an enemy once before backing out since she was currently too small to take any sort of retaliation strike from her enemies. So great was her focus in killing on the first strike that she had begun religiously practicing the Iaido, or quick draw sword techniques, and she practiced the strikes thousands of times so that she could accurately hit what she wanted to hit and back off to hide.

Kazeshini also made it a goal that every time she was on a mission that allowed her, she would look for new techniques to pilfer so that she could find something she might find useful to learn such as the Hidden Mist Technique. Such a technique was perfect for her current fighting style though her fighting style might change as she grew older.

She still had all her other weapons such as her tanto which was more used for assassinations and fighting indoors, her nodachi was used with her Iaido techniques as well as close to mid-ranged combat. She didn't have many weapons for long ranged techniques as she didn't care for fighting long ranged, but she used any throwing weapons such as senbon and kunai, though she didn't care for the bulky knives and she hated using shuriken.

Kazeshini clutched at the hilt tanto which was strapped horizontally at the base of her back and just above a large, square pouch that was filled with varying supplies she carried for the 'just in case' scenarios, and crawled up the side of a tree that was tall enough to see over the surrounding forest. Her chakra was compact and hidden by a seal which disguised her with natural chakra so there wasn't any sort of empty space where she was standing. An empty space devoid of chakra would have alerted any experienced sensor because an empty space is obvious when there is chakra everywhere else. It was like putting a bowl in a tub of water, the bowl will float so it will obviously be discovered, press the bowl down and there is an empty space in the bowl which can be discovered but is slightly harder to see, but disguise the bowl by filling it with water and it won't be discovered so easily.

The Mizuki clan, no matter how much many of the Uzumaki like to insult the by calling them water-logged or water brained, lived above a lake. It was smart because while they didn't always have to be in water, they could easily escape if attacked since they're bloodline literally allowed them to turn their bodies into water.

Kazeshini used a small barb that she attached to the kashira, or butt cap, of her tanto to draw blood before swiping it across a seal on her navel. The seal was quite large compared to her normal compact seals, but it served its purpose well. It drew in nature chakra naturally, mixed it with her own chakra, and stored that mixed chakra carefully so it just waited to be used. It was a slow draw of chakra constantly from both nature and her own coils so she wasn't affected too badly, and it was constantly drawing chakra lest the seal collapse in on itself and release all that stored chakra like a massive bomb. She had it set to draw on that tiny portion of her chakra that her body replenished naturally into her core while on missions but had it sucking eighty percent of her chakra when she was home.

This constant siphoning of chakra from her coils caused her chakra network to increase its production of chakra since her chakra network thought she was using chakra and needed to be topped off.

The chakra siphoning, mixing, and storage seal itself was attached to other seals that did various different things so her belly looked like some sort of odd sunburst with extra bursts at the ends of the some of the different rays.

The project had taken over two years to complete, being the sole thing she dedicated her extra time to, and it had been slow going even with the help of the clan library and other seal masters for certain specific components. The most difficult part of the seal was the ability to add on or delete the extra seals after the main seal had already been drawn.

She dragged her bloody finger in a circle around the main seal to activate the seal, the circle of blood unlocked the seal like a key compared to just a simple swipe of blood so it wasn't accidentally activated by blood splatter, and Kazeshini drew a blood line to an extra attached seal that she wanted activated, drawing the blood out much like the symbol from her previous life for men or the astrological symbol for Mars.

The extra seal was one of the 'rays' extending out from the 'sun' and this very specific transformation seal would last a certain amount of time depending on what connecting time symbol Kazeshini drew blood on. Starbursts with starbursts.

The stored chakra activated along the chain of seals Kazeshini had specified and she was quickly transformed into a kestrel, with beautiful striped feathers and a cute little face. Kazeshini flapped her wings, extending the flight feathers much like fingers, and took off into the sky towards the village.

The transformation into an actual bird just showed exactly how amazing chakra actually was.

To Kazeshini, the transformation technique was way undervalued.

She remembered from her previous life, that Naruto actually created a solid transformation technique to turn into a woman, with real breasts. So, while Kazeshini knew she probably had the same amount of chakra that Naruto had in his pinky finger, her chakra siphoning and chakra storage seal was her way around not having his absolutely massive chakra reserves. She suspected that Naruto had overloaded his transformation technique just like he overloaded the bunshin because of his horrible chakra control.

Now being an Uzumaki, Kazeshini knew that at ten years old, she probably had half of the chakra of Hatake Kakashi before shippuden who in turn only had a fraction of a fraction of chakra that Naruto had as a preteen. She guessed this mainly because she knew that Kakashi could maybe pump out thirty shadow clones before collapsing in chakra exhaustion while Naruto could pump out a couple hundred without breaking a sweat.

To get around Naruto's blatant overuse of chakra with abysmal control, Kazeshini used her chakra with nature chakra to overload her own transformation technique which was one of the seals attached to her chakra storage seal. One of the seals attached to her nature chakra storage seal was a transformation seal and she only had to think of what she wanted to look like or be, with plenty of concentration and control, to turn into what she was aiming for.

To Kazeshini, it seemed like there were five levels of chakra usage in a technique: too little, just the right amount of chakra, too much chakra so the technique is overpowering or useless, overload the technique so much that the technique is useless, or overload the overload rate so as to make the technique just so much more awesome.

Naruto's transformation technique, or the henge, was at that fifth stage of overloading the overload rate. This meant a regular henge, which was normally a simple illusion and would pop when touched, was now impossible to get rid of save by the caster and it was a solid transformation.

Now, the creature Kazeshini was going to transform into was a mix of different birds: the coloring and feet of a Philippine eagle (the beautiful clean light colored feathers against the dark colors with the sharp talons for protection), the head and actual feathers of a golden eagle (as Kazeshini was a little vain and hadn't liked the look of the Philippine eagle's crested head nor the looks of those short clipped looking feathers), and the wingspan of an albatross at twelve feet (the same wingspan that allowed her twenty pound body to glide for hours on end). This mismatch of different birds (which took into account her sense of vanity to look good) had the advantage of clawed talons, a sharp beak, and the wingspan to glide near nonstop was her preferred mode of disguise when being an animal. All these birds of prey were larges birds that were fast enough to get out of the way if she was accidentally discovered.

Kazeshini had already practiced flying before, having always wanted to fly with actual wings in her previous life, and it was practically instinctual at this point since she had flown so often after having completed her seal. She was also trying to figure out how to make actual wings for her more human body so she wasn't forced to change into a bird, she wanted to fly with wings as a human which would be a dream come true. Transforming into a bird which she could actually use the technique to fly made her head ache. Just trying to understand how exactly it was possible to transform and fly was headache inducing but she normally just ended up shrugging and using the blatant excuse of "chakra is magical."

She gave a loud shriek before setting herself on a corner of a roof and looking over the Mizuke clan. Kazeshini eyed a small bird flying above her and flew after it like the bird of prey she was transformed as. With nimble wings and sharp claws, she nabbed the little bird. Piercing its little breast with her claws, the bird died nearly as soon as it was caught and Kazeshini landed on the same rooftop as before with her prey in her claws.

Raw meat would have grossed her out once, but the transformation into a massive bird of prey was completely solid. This meant that she had the organs and digestive system of an actual bird. So if a bird could eat raw meat, why couldn't a transformed bird with bird organs and a bird's primitive taste buds eat meat?

Kazeshini definitely lived up to her name, being the Winds of Death whenever she was in the sky, and she hoped to keep up to her name when she fashioned wings for her human body.

She clawed into the dead bird to get at the meat itself, because no matter the transformation, she was still human and was in no way going to eat the organs. She munched and nibbled at her meal, scaring off an alley cat with a little show of aggression and a swipe of her claws, while taking in all the movements of her 'prey.'

The Mizuke clan went about their business like normal folks, just with some ninja added in. Truthfully, Kazeshini noticed that the clan wasn't all that different from her own. They had the clan head and main family, the ninja, the trainees, and the civilians. Everyone went about their day to day life exactly like the Uzumaki save for the training was a tad different and the Mizuke focused on their kekkei gekkei much more than the Uzumaki focused on fuinjutsu.

She finished off her meal and flew up into the sky, some shinobi watching her magnificent form with a massive wingspan that rose up minor wind gusts where she was taking off. For a few hours, Kazeshini flew around in a massive circle around the entire clan village. She looped around her prey, watching and taking note of all activity. Her eyesight was quite great in this form, allowing her to read the lips of everyone she looked towards at from over a mile away. What was odd was the nictitating membrane that she could use to protect her eyes but still be able to slightly see when diving or when making contact with anything she was hunting. The only annoying thing with being a bird was the fact that she couldn't actually move her eyes, she had to move her entire head since her eyes weren't actually able to roll in their sockets.

With barely a few half-flaps of her wings to keep her propelled since her wingspan allowed for excellent gliding, Kazeshini waited patiently as she was on a stake out mission for the clan. The timer for the transformation was an easy twelve hours which was one of the extra features to the transformation seals that allowed her to set multiple timers for her transformations so she wasn't stuck in this form.

It had happened once before to her and she was determined for it to never happen again. She had transformed into this mismatch of different birds for the perfect look that she wanted, and the nature chakra that was used to overpower the technique to make it completely solid was too powerful for her to dispel. She had stayed as a bird for hours until she had seen the opportunity to change back.

Kazeshini had seen her father out in the back of the property in the small yard calling for her, and he had looked worried since she normally never missed dinner at home when she had time off. She had come squawking to him, as she hadn't quite gotten the hang of flying, and shrieked until she had his attention. When he came near her, curious and slightly nervous at the obviously lager claws and sharp beak, she had beaten at his legs with her massive wings and waddled awkwardly over to the house.

Once he had figured out that a bird was trying to get in the house, and it wasn't quite managing to act as a bird, he had laughed and helped her inside. It took hours for her parents to figure out where she had started drawing a cancelation seal and a few more hours for them to figure out how to finish it with her help. By the end of that day, she had promptly added an exact timer to her seals so that the technique would cut off since she couldn't control the chakra herself and dispel whatever technique she was using.

The nature chakra now running through her body, carefully guided by the seal on her belly for the transformation, allowed for an excellent disguise. She wasn't an empty space in the world filled with chakra, but it was all chakra that was mixed and disguised with nature chakra. A really, really high-quality and experienced sensor would only be able to sense the natural chakra in the air which the seal made it seem like she was just nature chakra. They would be able to physically see her, but she was much like a ghost in that aspect, seen but not sensed or felt.

Locking the tendons in the wings in place was quite easy and allowed for her to glide while sleeping. For every meter she dropped, she glided forward a little over twenty meters and short but steady flaps allowed for none of her altitude to drop when sleeping, or napping as was her case. Most of the time, she could just use air currents and thermals to fly without having to flap her wings at all, but when she grew tired she could constantly flap just a little to allow for a short nap that was just enough to rest her mind without going into any sort of deep sleep.

She half-napped until she sensed the clan head of the Mizuke clan and a few other high profile members get together in a meeting. Her hearing in bird form wasn't that great, but her eyesight allowed her to easily read the lips of all those that were talking.

With ease Kazeshini made out the plans for an attack on a recently deployed Uzumaki shinobi team. Apparently, there was a traitorous spy among the civilians, many of whom were not true Uzumaki's but were welcomed as such since they provided essential jobs while the full-blooded Uzumaki's protected the village and did outside jobs to bring in extra money.

Kazeshini waited for a while longer until the meeting ended, and watched the three men and single woman leave the office where Kazeshini was carefully keeping her eye on the window so as to spy on the conversation. Once another few hours passed, she had only ten minutes left in her twelve hour deadline for the transformation technique and it was dark enough outside that it helping to disguise her movements within the village. With speed but keeping silent, she swooped down as fast as a speeding bullet with her wings tucked in tight to her sides.

With a snap, her wings opened wide to halt her high speed dive just before the window to the clan head's office. Sharp talons clutched at the window sill and she only had to wait a few more moments before her transformation ended and she was human once more. Carefully hiding her chakra so she wasn't detected, she opened the window and disengaged the trap and alarm.

Quick as a whip, Kazeshini snatched up every single scroll and piece of paper she could get her hands on. She ransacked the desk for hidden compartments, the tatami mats for hidden doors of safes, the paintings on the walls were carefully taken down as she wasn't one to destroy art to see if there was anything hidden in the walls, and the shelves and bookcases were completely destroyed for any sort of secret space.

She found a hidden safe which she just sealed the entire thing away instead of trying to take the time to unlock it. She wanted to get in and out so Kazeshini would allow for the code breakers back home to break into the safe. She also found a hidden compartment in the desk full of documents and a small hidden shelf behind a faking backing in a bookcase filled with scrolls.

Kazeshini sealed everything away right as the shoji doors to the office were pulled open. Kazeshini was thankful that she was wearing a disguise to hide the fact that she was of Uzumaki heritage. She wore a black wig of her red hair and a full black and grey hakama kimono though the pants were tighter fitting than traditional. She had zori sandals compared to the traditional rubber shinobi sandals with black tabi socks.

To disguise her face, she wore a simple mask over her face much like one Hatake Kakashi. She wore nothing but blacks and grays, not wanting any sort of color to be drawn to any clan such as the Uzumaki clan with their bright red hair and brightly colored clothes.

Her tanto was tied firmly at the small of her back, horizontal to the ground. Her kunai pouch was tied firmly around her right thigh, since she was predominantly right-handed though she was trained to be ambidextrous, and her storage pouch contained plenty of easy to access ninja wire, smoke bombs, and various other miscellaneous items for the 'just in case' scenarios.

Kazeshini reached back into her pouch and grabbed a quick smoke bomb right as the person entered the office to see the intruder. She threw the bomb down right as the other woman gave a call of "Intruder!"

The other woman, with light blue hair, tried attacking with a kunai but Kazeshini used her tanto to cut down the other woman. With a quick prayer, much like Ezio Auditore, Kazeshini whispered, "Rest in Peace." Then she swiped her thumb on the butt of her tanto to draw blood and circled her chakra seal with a quick line directly up to transform into her bird of prey form while she was jumping out of the open window of the office.

With a quick flap of her massive wings, she caught herself on the air and flew off as fast as she could and as high as she could. With ease once she was up in the air, she evaded the startled forms of angry ninja, and left as quick as her wings could beat.


	7. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

(Eleven Years Old)

Kazeshini breathed through her nose and stayed still as she watched over the client she was helping to guard. Yuri was chatting with the client's daughter while Hisane and Itsui were both talking politely with the client himself. Kazeshini on the other hand was carefully watching over everything, having a headache and not wanting to deal with anyone at this point.

Her grumpy attitude had been noticed by the others of her team and so they let her be, not wanting to make her grumpy attitude worse.

With care, she tended to her katana. She sharpened the edge and polished the entire blade before caring for the handle and guard. She was actually quite a bit taller than her sword now and as such, she was looking to buy an actual nodachi before spending the time to make her own. The blade had been useful, but now she wanted to get another blade that would work better for her and the fighting style she had been taught and been developing.

No matter how odd it was to use a nodachi, a blade that could easily be three feet long or longer with a two foot handle, that the nodachi was the weapon she had chosen to master. She understood in the conventional sense that the nodachi was practically useless and had stopped being made within only around a hundred years of service as a horse cutter sword, but with chakra it became worthwhile.

There were dozens of different weapons out in the world that would normally be useless and bizarre but with chakra, everything could be used. Madara had his giant gunbai (war fan) which would be useless without chakra, Kisame had Samehada which was pretty much useless all around without the addition of chakra to make the sword sentient as to suck out chakra, and the Rikudou Sennin's Bashoushen is a plain old feathered fan if not for the use of chakra. Please, the entirety of Otogakure is based off of sound and more than one of them must use music such as Tayuya with the use of her flute.

Now, with the use of her tanto, which was a much more commonly used weapon, she could normally hide the fact that she used a nodachi. An enemy would see the small tanto strapped horizontally on her lower back and assume that the tanto was her first weapon of choice. It would give her an edge to be able to surprise her enemies with the fact that she could draw a nodachi from storage and use an Iaido technique.

Once she finished with cleaning her weapon, Kazeshini stored it away and leaned back against the carriage in which the client had stored many of his goods which he planned to sells. She and her teammates were only there to guard the client, his family, and the goods until he got to his destination which was still another three days away.

Kazeshini could definitely understand that most of the protection details she would ever be assigned would be plenty of 'hurry up and wait' scenarios with maybe a small instance or two to liven up the experience. It didn't happen often, but bandits normally left any sort of trade wagon or caravan with a contingency of shinobi alone as they had no way to survive in a fight against chakra wielding shinobi. However those few times where the truly desperate bandits came to try and steal from a shinobi guarded caravan usually meant a quick slaughter for the bandits. On the flip side, there were the even rarer instances of enemy shinobi interference.

Normally, enemy shinobi had no need to attack a civilian group or track down a civilian target or trade goods. Shinobi were normally attracted to other shinobi just to fight them and try to kill the 'enemy.' It was annoying for the civilian travelers since without a shinobi escort, they were constantly plagued and hassled by bandits but with a shinobi escort, they were plagued and hassled by other shinobi. The only good thing was normally the attacking shinobi weren't after the civilians and so the civilians were left alone as the shinobi guards drew the fight away from who they were trying to protect.

With a quick scan of the surrounding landscape, which just happened to be rock filled forests with pockets of mud practically everywhere, and Kazeshini determined that they were alone and there weren't any human signatures anywhere nearby.

"So, Kaze-chan, you want to play a game?" Itsui called out from where he was walking next to the carriage. He had apparently stopped talking with the client whom Kazeshini could tell he was quite happy to get away as Hisane and their client had their heads together while giggling over something.

Kazeshini shuddered at the image of two grown men giggling; that was an image she never actually wanted to see.

"Sure, Itsui-san, what were you thinking?"

He gave a bright grin; his red hair just seemed to fluff up more with his heightened mood. "I spy with my little eye something green!"

Kazeshini rolled her eyes and leaned back to relax. With closed eyes and her arms folded beneath her head, she gave a quick answer, "Trees."

Itsui squawked and did a little jig where his whole body just seemed to flex and his limbs to fling about. "How'd you guess?! Your turn, your turn!"

"I spy with my little eye something red." Kazeshini didn't even have to look around to find something as she had a plethora of items to choose from. The red item was in fact the small, practically invisible red earring that decorated the curve of Yuri's left ear; the exact side of Yuri which Itsui couldn't see from where he was walking on the right side of the wagon.

Itsui guessed and guessed, and it went on for a while. Kazeshini and he had the game to where he would always, always spy something green which would always be a tree. In turn, she would spy something that only she could see and that he could not. It kept both Kazeshini and Itsui talking to each other as Itsui tried guessing items that he had seen and that would be with them only from memory. Normally, his turn lasted a good thirty minutes until he found the correct answer before it was his turn. "I spy with my little eye something green! Bet you can't guess what it would be!"

Kazeshini only smirked from where she was lying down with her eyes closed, just enjoying the warm day and the sunlight periodically peaking through the leaves of the trees. "Tree."

Itsui mock groaned and was soon having to guess for the next item that Kazeshini had 'spied.'

It took them the entire three days to get to their destination and they only arrived at the small city as the sun was setting.

"Alright team; let's go find us an inn to settle in for the night before heading back home." Hisane called out as he stretched his muscles out. He had already sealed the payment for the mission in a scroll and was now just ready for an actual bed. It didn't matter that all of them could comfortably camp out for weeks on end, but being in an actual bed always beat camping out hands down.

It was on the way back home that they were waylaid by a group of enemy shinobi. The group numbered in ten shinobi and kunoichi all with feral yellow eyes and claws that stretched from long fingers. Each of these nin were already covered in old blood, and it looked like they were more of a roaming clan than actually having any sort of compound to permanently live in.

"Lookie here, some little shinobi out for a run in our territory!" One of the shinobi catcalled; his messy dark blonde hair was flicked out of his face with an errant hand as he leered at Kazeshini and her team.

Hisane pulled out a kunai in preparation and glared darkly at the group of hostile shinobi. "We're just passing through; we had no intentions to cut through your lands."

All of the unfriendly shinobi laughed uproariously, as if Hisane had just told some great joke. "Just passin' through he says! Well I'll be a monkey's uncle!" The group continued laughing and Kazeshini could obviously tell by now that all of these shinobi and kunoichi had to be insane or high on some sort of drug to be acting the way they were.

The four Uzumaki's tensed their muscles as suddenly one of the enemy attacked without warning, though it wasn't that much of a surprise as Kazeshini had expected practically the moment these foul shinobi and kunoichi had intercepted her team. Without a moment to waste, Kazeshini unsealed her sword and swung her long katana at her opponent who had jumped for her, expecting her to be the weakest of the team. They were right to assume she was currently the weakest of the team, but that didn't make her weak or helpless compared to her teammates and team captain.

The enemy shinobi was bisected in half at the waist from Kazeshini's chakra infused swing, and that caused all the rest of the enemy shinobi to jump forward into the fight that had been started. Hisane hadn't bothered intercepting the shinobi attacking Kazeshini as he knew she would be able to easily handle the attacker, and had actually prepared a jutsu while the enemy had stood back to watch and see if their clan member could pull off a successful surprise attack.

Now with a free-for-all, Kazeshini didn't have the time to think about much other than protecting herself. She faced two more nin, all the others having split between Hisane, Yuri and Itsui. Her two attackers were obviously teammates with how well they collaborated their attacks, but her evident training by a very successful clan and with all the extra training she pushed herself knowing the future of this world allowed her to easily hold them off.

It was with slight ease that she went on the attack, blocking the thrust claws aimed for her neck with a swipe of her sword that nearly cut the man's arm in half from the palm to the elbow. A single swing of her blade cut the man's head off at the shoulder which really, really pissed off the man's teammate.

The kunoichi was so pissed, that she apparently activated a forbidden clan technique that had all the other clan members running a little ways away as if to give the transforming kunoichi some space once they heard the high-pitched yelling given off by the kunoichi as well as the sight of massive and sickly yellow chakra emissions coming from the woman. Kazeshini paused, almost unable to stomach the sight of the kunoichi's body beginning to twist unnaturally as though some sort of summon animal had been summoned under her skin and melded into her body. She looked like some sort of creature from a nightmare as she finished transforming, and the sickly yellow chakra emissions didn't help that image one single bit.

Kazeshini put her whole body into her next swing, every single muscle tensing and contracting as she raised her katana while she charged up quite a bit of refined chakra honed to a sharp edge much like wind chakra though not quite that sharp.

Her abundance of spiritual chakra from having a previous twenty years of life experience helped with learning medical ninjutsu, no matter how much she hated working at a hospital or clinic. However all that extra chakra didn't quite help with chakra control from her unbalanced physical and spiritual energies which meant she studied more on chakra control at this point in time than any sort of nature manipulation techniques. So, while she was good at chakra manipulation and chakra control, it constantly had to be worked because of her constantly changing chakra levels, both physical and spiritual.

Now, with plenty of chakra carefully balanced on the edge of her blade and sharpened as much as she was able, Kazeshini used the beginnings of a technique that she was ever so slowly trying to create. She knew she hadn't yet been able to refine the technique and make it work like it was supposed to, but some her failures were immensely helpful such as using a honed edge to cut through tough objects. Truthfully, she was aiming for something more along the lines of Kurosaki Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho, but what she was pulling off now was just enough for her to work with at this point in time to protect herself against this monstrous and insane kunoichi.

Though she hadn't been able to figure out how to properly release the technique so that it flew without losing its strength or cutting ability as it came off the blade's edge, it currently gave her extra cutting power and an explosive impact that would hopefully protect her life at this point in time. Her sword swung forward, causing it to whistle in the air as it seemed to cut between air, and the blade smacked straight into the enemy kunoichi's hip without causing a scratch. The technique still detonated however, as it always did at this moment in time, and her blade shattered in her hands even as both the transformed kunoichi and Kazeshini were thrown back by the force of the explosion.

Kazeshini rolled in a controlled pattern before jumping up to her feet and pulling out her tanto. Her hands still stung and she winced as she could literally feel the minor blistering burns going all the way up her arms and even on her face. She still didn't wear any sort of proper armor save for some smaller and mismatched pieces, which they probably saved her life at this point because of how her ribs creaked at the impact of being thrown back and how she could smell her smoldering clothes while her armor was the only thing that now protected her decency.

She had the sudden urge to cuss, but no words passed her lips even as she ran forward as fast as she was able, her resistance/gravity seal having been turned off since the start of the fight so she practically blurred forward. However Kazeshini wasn't fast enough, however, for her opponent's eyes and the creature slashed at her with clawed hands that Kazeshini barely dodged out of the way before she got hurt.

Her small tanto clanged harshly against the claws as Kazeshini protected herself from getting her side slashed open, and Kazeshini could literally see long scratches marring the previously mirror shine of her small blade. Kazeshini scowled darkly and flipped off the enemy kunoichi's arm, using it as a platform to flip and twist out of the way of another attack that Kazeshini sensed more than she actually saw since the enemies arm passed swiftly beneath her body from where she was twisted to look up in the sky. She coiled herself in the air to land on a tree branch a dozen feet away as if she had the blood of a cat streaming through her veins, and Kazeshini merely puffed a small strand of her red hair out of her face as though she wasn't taking her opponent seriously.

The kunoichi, Kazeshini noticed, hadn't used any sort of chakra techniques save for the clear use of chakra enhancement to muscles even with all that sickly yellow chakra seeming to burst everywhere in uncontrollable patterns. Kazeshini determined that the moment the woman had transformed that she had lost all rationale and was now only aiming to try to kill, kill, kill.

"You alright over there, Kaze-chan?" came Hisane's cry from somewhere far to her left, though she didn't bother trying to figure out exactly where he was since she was paying far more attention to the transformed kunoichi who had jumped forward with the intent to rip her body in half.

Kazeshini dodged out of the way and evaded the kunoichi, though with some difficulty since the transformed kunoichi seemed to only be getting bigger and faster and even stronger as time passed. "Yah, Taicho, I'm absolutely loving the fact that I'm having to deal with some sort of transformed chakra monster aiming to tear me to pieces!"

Hisane only laughed, loud enough to sound insane if Kazeshini hadn't already figured out that he was insanely worried for her. She was only eleven, even with twenty years of previous memories, and Hisane obviously was worried about a child no matter how strong or capable.

Kazeshini continued dodging, not able to cut into her opponent's skin, and was now determined to become skilled enough to cut into solid steel like Roronoa Zoro was from the Alabasta arc and onwards. Finally, having enough of dodging as she had gotten a few cuts from the near misses and her burns were irritating the piss plum out of her, Kazeshini made like Harry Potter and thrust her short sword into the screaming throat of her enemy and up into the brain where the only place she had found to be the weak spot was easily found.

The kunoichi died swiftly, simply seeming to fall to the forest floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Though Kazeshini suspected she would someday actually be able to see a puppet fall to the ground during battle when its strings were cut since she suspected that Suna puppeteering would be created soon if it hadn't already.

With swift speed, running as fast as her still short legs could go; Kazeshini seemed to fly towards Yuri who was having to fend off another two enemy shinobi. One had already transformed and the other was taking potshots at Yuri from a slightly safer distance. Kazeshini easily snuck up upon the shinobi who hadn't transformed, as the nin didn't seem to be able to sense chakra signatures too well, and cut his throat open before she jumped onto the transformed nin's back and killed him or her the same way she had killed her own transformed opponent.

By the end of the fight against the group of ten shinobi and kunoichi, Kazeshini was quite tired and her arms hurt quite a bit along with her bruised ribs from where she had been thrown back by her own point blank explosion which in hindsight, hadn't been the greatest of ideas.

Luckily, with a bit of medical chakra, which she was adept at though she wouldn't be pulling off any surgeries any time soon, she was mostly fully healed. After healing herself, Kazeshini moved her glowing green hands to her teammates and team leader and quickly healed them of any cuts, bruises, abrasions, and a few cracked but luckily unbroken bones.

With that, they began the long run home, ready to get into their own beds and forget the nightmare inducing creatures that their most recent opponents had turned into even though they hadn't been too difficult to defeat once they had figured out a weakness.

Kazeshini was just thankful that while their enemy had super tough and practically impenetrable skin, that they were easily killed. She was also eternally grateful that their opponents hadn't known how to properly think or use chakra when transformed and acted more like berserkers than any sort of actual shinobi. Kazeshini knew with absolute certainty that if that small traveling clan actually had the ability to think and properly use their chakra when transformed, that they would have most likely dominated the fight and Kazeshini and her team might not have come out of that fight with just a few cuts.

With a deep breath, Kazeshini merely jumped from branch to branch, not bothering herself with 'what ifs' and was just thankful that they had gotten out of what could have been a potentially dangerous and almost suicidal fight without any lasting injuries.


	8. Chapter 16-17

Chapter Sixteen

(Twelve Years Old)

Kazeshini was stuck resting at home and she was nearly bored out of her mind.

She had gotten hurt while out on a mission, her arm broke when an enemy shinobi had used a technique that had shattered her arm much like Gaara with his sand-burial technique. Her arm was shattered and the only thing that had saved it and saved her from being permanently crippled was her use of emergency medical chakra so as to keep the muscles in her arm immobile as well as fitting the shards of bone together like a jigsaw puzzle without tearing into her muscles.

Kazeshini had screamed the moment her arm had been crushed and the bones shattered, sending her three teammates into a frenzy, but she had used a bit of quick thinking to save herself the humiliation of not even defeating the man who had almost ripped off her arm as it was shattered and crushed.

With her arm shattered, and with only a small ability to properly direct her medical chakra since she didn't have the knowledge to fix herself completely no matter how good she was at using medical chakra, she could only do so much while they ran home to get her fixed by an actual professional. The medics of the clan had taken one look at her arm and declared it on the mend before releasing her to go home as long as she didn't do anything with her arm until it fully healed. She hadn't needed to stay in the clinic since the medics already had so many more ninja who needed their help that much more with more serious injuries than a shattered arm that would heal well with the medical chakra that Kazeshini was flooding though it.

Once they had set Kazeshini's arm in plaster, she was sent home for rest so as to allow her arm to heal.

Her orders to not do anything with her arm translated into not doing anything at all for her parents. Kikyou was so fretful by the fact her daughter had her arm crushed, that she didn't let Kazeshini do anything at all.

Therefore, Kazeshini was out of her mind with boredom.

So, instead of lounging around and doing nothing, Kazeshini began drawing up new seals.

She quickly gained access to the Uzumaki library and began reading through the various kinjutsus and forbidden seals, not that they were actually forbidden, but they were recommended not to be used because nine times out of ten the seal or jutsu caused death. Kazeshini was looking through these dangerous techniques and seals to see if she could mash a few of them together to come through with her harebrained idea.

Kazeshini knew that Mito Uzumaki wasn't even around yet, and Kazeshini truthfully didn't even know when the woman would be born, and Kazeshini still had to live long enough to try changing the future. Though she still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to try changing.

One thing at the top of the list would definitely be the destruction of Uzu. She was determined to stop that since it was now a matter of clan pride, since she herself was an Uzumaki and these people weren't just fictional characters in some story.

"Tadaima, haha-ue!" Kazeshini called out when she got home later that night, scrolls tucked into her obi as well as her arm sling which she was determined to pick apart and study.

"Okaerinasai! Are you okay? How is your arm?" Kikyou asked while she came out of the kitchen to worry over her only child.

Kazeshini smiled warmly and kissed her mother's cheek, "Everything's fine haha-ue, do you wish for help?"

"No, you just go sit down and relax." Kikyou threatened while waving a spatula around and pointing to the low dining table.

Kazeshini gave a little bow before setting her scrolls on the table and sitting in seiza. She immaculately began scribbling away at a blank scroll all of the little notes she was making as well as diagrams she felt she might need for her project.

"Dinner will be ready soon and your father will be home shortly so put away those scrolls and wash your hands." Kikyou stated from where she was still cooking in the kitchen.

"Of course haha-ue." Kazeshini quickly rolled up her scrolls after blowing them dry so the ink wouldn't smear, and cleared the table quickly before standing up and heading to the washroom.

As always, it was a challenge to wash her hand since her other was encased in plaster and held against her body with a sling, but she came out clean.

"Kon'nichiwa, chichi-ue." Kazeshini greeted her father politely before sitting down gracefully in her own seat.

"Kon'nichiwa, Kazeshini-chan, how is your arm?"

"Its fine chichi-ue, how are you?"

"Good, are you having any trouble with your studies or training?" Ukitake asked while Kikyou set a bowl of rice in front of him.

"Yes, chichi-ue, it seems as though I've reached some sort of plateau in my training. I've found that I have been struggling to continue past what I have already learned in taijutsu and kenjutsu, though I have learned many new fuinjutsu and ninjutsu techniques as well as iryojutsu and a few genjutsu techniques. I have also finished with the chakra nature transformation techniques that were given to me for the water element and I want to ask for some chakra nature transformation techniques for lightning manipulation."

Ukitake gave a little chuckle as he ate his dinner, "I suspected as such. Only experience will really help you with your kenjutsu and taijutsu, you sneak around so much that you do not get into half as many battles as I did when I was your age. This is the first time since you have been out in the field that you have gotten hurt enough to lay off missions for a while. I had more trips to the clinic than I care to admit and there many times that I was dragged back half dead by my teammates."

Kikyou gave a scowl which quelled her husband who seemed to be reminiscing things she would much rather forget.

"However, I can spar with you whenever we are free to help. I do not have a lightning scroll but I have a team mate who does, I can ask to borrow it for you to help with your training. However I have a handful of water techniques that I wish for you to learn before working on a new element."

"Of course, chichi-ue, thank you." Kazeshini replied politely before finishing her meal in silence.

After dinner, Kazeshini went to her room to study more on the scrolls that she had borrowed from the library. There were a few interesting techniques, and even one technique that resulted in what resembled the final, full body explosive technique used by Deidara when fighting Sasuke.

She leaned back against her various stuffed tigers and doodled a bit on a spare scroll in boredom, because no matter how interesting these techniques were, it still got boring after a while.

It was a week later when her arm had healed that Ukitake sat her down in front of him to speak. In his hands were a few scrolls that had more than a few marriage betrothals for Kazeshini.

Immediately Kazeshini scowled darkly at the table top where the scrolls were located. "I do not wish for an arranged marriage. I wish to become an elite kunoichi before I even begin broaching the subject of betrothals or children."

Ukitake gave a little nod of agreement, "Yes, you have a bright career ahead of you, and I do not wish to halt your growth as a powerful kunoichi because of a betrothal contract. However I will have you attending the various meetings and functions that this family is invited to."

"Of course, chichi-ue." Kazeshini complied easily enough, though she thought it as a waste of her time.

If she wasn't doing something such as training, or relaxing by painting or meditating, she thought it was a waste of time. It was Kazeshini's greatest trigger to set her off in a bad mood was having her time wasted by something inane. She would much rather be training since she still was barely chunin level, or what she classified as chunin because there still wasn't any sort of formal system.

It annoyed her that no matter the training, an adult ninja could usually destroy her without too much effort. In fact, compared to her father and team leader Hisane, she could be counted as an annoyance; barely noticeable, but just enough above the rest to turn a head, but not much else.

It irked her, that no matter the training, against a truly powerful opponent, she was helpless. Though she was perfectly fine with decimating cannon fodder, she wasn't yet strong enough to even consider touching A-class foes with even less of a chance against S-ranked monsters.

Kazeshini bowed to her father and left the office pleased though, because her father was laid back enough to consider her own wishes of not being sold off like cattle to the highest bidder.

Going outside, Kazeshini brought out her newly bought nodachi and began practicing while pumping chakra through the blade. She wished to create a sword technique that could cut down a hundred trees in one stroke, but all she had managed so far was a measly cut in a tree twenty yards from where she was practicing. Luckily, she no longer blew up the technique in her face ever since the mission where the explosion hadn't even hurt the enemy whereas it cracked her ribs instead.

In her previous life, she had always been fascinated by the Japanese swords, and the nodachi had been her favorite. It meant that she definitely enjoyed swinging a practice bokken around for hours and hours because there was just something so alluring about holding such a sharp, pointy piece of art in sword form.

She had actually sat down and drawn dozens of ink paintings all trying to capture the beauty of the sword.

Now, her weapon just seemed to irk her as she practiced, because she just couldn't get it to do exactly what she wanted. Half the chakra she forced into the blade dissipated before she could actually complete her technique, and when she executed her technique, it was always weak and near useless.

So, to counter this, Kazeshini was using the most basic of lightning chakra, as she hadn't been able to train her lightning manipulation very well yet without the scrolls from her father, and put a tiny bit of piercing power behind her cut as well as refining her technique again and again. She continued practicing, coating her entire blade with electricity, and swung the blade horizontally at the tree she was practicing.

Panting for breath, she heard a crack and the tree slowly fell to the ground, cut nearly all the way through from twenty meters away. Kazeshini smirked and raised her blade to practice the technique again, and charged lightning chakra through it.

Her chakra chirped and chattered as she refined it into the edge and tip of her blade before swinging once more. The wave of lightning that was released made all her hours of practice worth it as she watched it hit and cut through three more trees as the crescent wave had gone farther with more power now that she had figured out what she was doing.

Kazeshini charged her nodachi once more before it gave a sharp crackle sound. She looked down to her blade and her eyes widened as she noted the spider web of cracks that marked nearly the entire blade, before it shattered completely.

Pieces of metal just dropped to the ground, and the blade just broke in pieces. Kazeshini clenched her teeth in anger but sighed instead of screaming which she really, really wanted to do.

Today was just not her day.

With a sigh, she picked up the pieces and went inside to bring them to her father so they could go to the blacksmith and buy her a new sword since she had yet to gain the proper skill to create her own weapon as of yet.

Kazeshini followed resolutely behind her father as they walked towards a blacksmith who was a family friend. The pieces of her new nodachi had been gathered and collected with great care and set in a long box so that the piece weren't mixed in a mess, but one could still see what the blade would have looked like before shattering.

The blade itself was in so many pieces that it would be impossible to repair it, but Kazeshini wanted some way to memorialize her sword which had gone through an entire year of higher classed missions with her and saved her life more times than she cared to admit. She had meditated with her sword for countless hours and had practiced with it even more. It was safe to say that she had been attached to her blade, and that it shattered really had her in tears.

However, no matter how attached to her sword she had been, she knew that it had probably been time to upgrade her sword again as the blade had started wearing out no matter the excellent care all because of the different techniques she had been trying to create that stressed out the blade.

It would need to be something other than regular steel though, because Kazeshini was afraid of destroying her blade by channeling too much chakra through it again. The blade would then have to consist of the godly expensive chakra conductive metal.

Kazeshini, while she was thinking on it, wanted something other than a regular sword. She had admired all dangerous weaponry and the like, but the Seven Swords of the Mist really drew her for they were practically every swordsman's wet dream. She was thinking of a sword that would cause injuries that would never heal but only to her enemies. With allies, Kazeshini wanted to heal them with a stroke of her sword.

While in the blacksmith's shop, her shattered sword was set in a mold of molten glass. Her sword came out beautiful, though still broken, and she thanked the blacksmith sincerely for his work.

Back at home, Kazeshini set her sword on a sword rack in her room with the scabbard just underneath, and watched as the sun reflected of the pieces like art. There, right there, Kazeshini knew how she was going to not only fund her new sword but make it herself.

She just had to remember that a sword had a soul and a sword was art in and of itself. Art was one thing that she loved above all else, and she would learn how to create her own sword.

Kazeshini smirked and looked outside, her shoji doors open to the back yard. She knew an old smithing technique that would be perfect. It was only theory so she would need to practice many times and change many, many things with how she was going to do this, but she was determined, stubborn enough as well to try it on her own without asking for an apprenticeship.

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Chapter Seventeen

(Thirteen Years Old)

It was just another mission.

Kazeshini slipped her newest nodachi in it's sheathe and waited patiently for the mark to stop throwing up on the side of the road. She was on a rescue mission/bandit elimination mission, one where a client had paid good money to have his daughter back from a kidnapping as well as wiping out all bandits who had tried to ransom their captive for money.

With relative ease, Kazeshini had infiltrated the wooded area where the bandit group lived, and had rescued the target but not before wiping out every bandit that she came across. The woman was a pathetic civilian who did nothing but cry and whine and moan about her sorry fate. Kazeshini hadn't been allowed to knock the young woman unconscious, since that could be seen as a bad thing to the client, but was so very grateful that the woman was now silently crying and throwing up at the sight of the dead bandit that had jumped them while they walked along the road.

The woman had been moaning and groaning about how she didn't want to walk, how she was hungry, how it was too hot. Etcetera, etcetera.

Then, when a bandit had jumped out at them, a bandit who Kazeshini could easily sense a long while before the filthy unbathed swine had decided to try his chance with them as a target, Kazeshini hadn't wasted a second in cutting him down. With a twist of her slowly developing hips and a flick of her wrists, Kazeshini had swung her blade forward and perfectly slit his throat without separating his head from his neck.

With a simple flick of her wrist, the blood had been swung off the blade and it was slide home into the sheathe with ease. It had literally lasted only five seconds total, easily accomplished with her Iaijutsu technique, and the man had been dead before he knew it.

Kazeshini had watched as the bandit's eyes widened in shock even as he threw his hands up to his throat to try and stem the blood flow that had suddenly erupted from his neck. It hadn't taken but a few more seconds for the man to collapse, dead, and for his now glazed eyes to stare up in horror.

The woman that Kazeshini had rescued hadn't even computed that there was a bandit trying to attack them until the man was already dead on the ground. Then, cried out in horror before rushing to the side of the road to empty out the contents of her stomach.

Kazeshini didn't speak, as she had already had her patience stretched thin because of the civilian woman. With a simple bit of compassion, Kazeshini simply handed the woman a canteen of water before toeing the dead body to the side of the road.

Once the woman had composed herself, they continued walking back to the woman's father and towards safety. It only took a few hours and it was blessedly silent for Kazeshini so she no longer had to listen to the woman's whining. Back in the town, Kazeshini dropped off her charge and hightailed it back to the bandit's camp, just to make sure she killed all of the idiots.

"You! You did this to my men!" cried out a man who was dressed in some sort of odd boiler suit in a black and white cow print camouflage.

Kazeshini raised an eyebrow, having already dropped off the captive and having already killed a good portion of the bandits during the infiltration, she was now only coming back to finish off the job without her client's daughter in the way to get hurt. "Yes, may I help you?" It was always proper to be polite, no matter if the man was yelling and screaming while smelling like the bad end of a rat's behind.

"You killed my men! How dare you! I'll kill you for this!" he screamed, his hand coming up with a horribly maintained sword in hand for an over head strike.

It was slow, and Kazeshini could easily dodge the civilian speed strike with ease. It was with a simple swipe of her own sword that she cut the bandit's in half along with cutting a through a good portion of the man's body.

Kazeshini flicked her sword out, blood splattering on the ground in an arc as the blade was whipped out to the side to easily clean off the blood, before she slid it home in its sheathe with a click.

With a hand sign, a water clone sprung forward and began rooting through the bandit camp looking for anything of use. It came back carrying money, some cheep jewelry as the bandits were successful enough to get the real fancy stuff, and some sad looking weapons that Kazeshini was simply going to gift to some civilian blacksmith instead of trying to sell. She didn't need the small amount of money the swords would sell for, and the blacksmith could easily give the swords to other civilians to protect themselves from more bandits if need be.

A few horses were also found and taken from the bandit camp before Kazeshini torched everything, including the bodies which she didn't want to spend the next week trying to bury since there were over a hundred men that she had killed in this extermination.

She was lucky that this mission was so easy. It was just a simply bandit extermination mission with a side of rescue operation, but there hadn't been any ninja attacking her nor any highly trained ninja clan that just happened to sense her and come attacking.

It had happened multiple times in recent history that some sort of easy, simple, run-of-the-mill mission turned into a fuck up. Her last bandit extermination along a specific stretch of highway had resulted in no less than four different fights against enemy nin, totaling in over two-hundred bandits killed along the highway that stretched a hundred miles and twenty-seven nin dead. That wasn't the only mission that had been FUBAR'ed; a search and rescue mission once, had resulted in the destruction of a drug/slave trafficking ring being demolished but not before Kazeshini had fought against a trio of shinobi. That fight had nearly cost her an arm when one of their weapons, coated in some sort of poison, had eaten away at the skin tissue and she had only been saved by the timely arrival back to the clan where the medics had created an antidote.

It seemed that most times when she went on a mission and the situation got out of hand, that the enemy nin could very easily kill her without much effort. There were multiple opponents that could literally change the landscape around them just from their techniques, not quite to the point where they created a massive canyon like the Valley of the End would turn out to be, but the land was still changed. Kazeshini didn't have many techniques that could change the landscape at this point in her arsenal. She had more techniques that dealt with the quick and fast elimination of a target while she evaded all retaliation hits.

To Kazeshini, it felt as though the clan wars era was not only about everyone fighting with everyone else, but that while everyone is fighting they also have to get stronger. This was how monsters like Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama were made. They had to fight and fight and fight against opponents who were constantly fighting to survive, and they got all the stronger for it.

Kazeshini quickly got her payment for the rescue and quick elimination of the bandit camp, and made her way home. She had taken this mission on her own, as she really had no need for a team on such a simple mission, and that didn't really bother her. Kazeshini knew that the hidden village of Konoha would eventually be all about team spirit and teamwork, but she knew that her teammates were needed elsewhere while she could take on these relatively easy missions without much difficulty.

Even when she fought against enemy shinobi who turned the mission rating from simple and routine to dangerous and deadly, she knew she was getting stronger for every fight she survived. Every fight, she could refine her techniques, try new ones in the field to assess how well they worked in a fight, and test her will to survive against all her attackers. Everything she did was so that she could survive into the future, though she hadn't quite figured it out yet, and so she was strong enough that she could fight and survive against shinobi and kunoichi who could change the very land they stood upon.


	9. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

(Fourteen Years Old)

Kazeshini sighed as she was walking next to her father away from a clan gathering. There had been a plethora of young Uzumaki men that had propositioned Kazeshini for a date, but she had turned them all down. Not only were they teenagers, but she was the mental equivalent of a thirty year old. Plus, she had no care to date at this moment.

It also wasn't helped by the fact that Kazeshini knew that she absolutely had to live long past any of them would be dead and buried. She had no wish to outlive her spouse, and she had no wish suddenly have to tell someone she was engaged to why she felt the need to become immortal.

Ukitake on the other hand, was slightly relieved that Kazeshini kept turning down all those offers. Not only was Kazeshini his little girl, but he had no care to see her married with children of her own. He and Kikyou had married young, and though they had waited a few years before having a child, Kikyou had nearly died. Then, the moment their daughter was born, they knew she would do great things. He was also worried that Kazeshini would just get up and leave if he or Kikyou ever tried enforcing a marriage contract on her.

So, he and Kikyou broke the traditions of forcing their daughter to be married at such a young age, though most of the eligible suitors were still lined up trying their hand at gaining their daughter's hand. However, he hoped that she might find someone she loved, but it seemed she was too mature to try for any of those that were her own age. However he shuddered at the level of maturity she might find attractive, that could easily mean she found someone twice her age or more as attractive for their maturity.

What amazed him, as he walked next to Kazeshini who was dressed in a beautiful kimono, was that she was always doing something. Most children her age, even those who are ninja, often times are immature and wish to do things such as gossip or play around. Ukitake had been watching his daughter for the last few years even create some sort of forge in which she was ever so slowly learning how to create weaponry on her own.

The clay forge was dome shaped with a massive door which Kazeshini used to clean out the forge, and a smaller door in which she used to actually heat whatever metal she was using. He had watched her create some mizu bunshin to help with the bellows and shoveling in fuel to keep her forge going as she patiently heated whatever metal she was using. Though it amazed him to see what exactly she was doing.

She had spent an exorbitant amount of money on black clay, fine iron sand, and various other tools.

He had actually sat down and watched her once, seeing how she was forging her weapons, and learning by trial and error. That day, he had watched as her clones spent hours getting the exact layering of sands, clays, charcoals, all with different types and thickness. He had watched her clones, since the real Kazeshini was actually training with her team at the moment, heat and layer and use the bellows to heat up the entire oven for half the day.

It had actually taken Kazeshini a few months to figure out how she should layer the various bits of clay, sand, and charcoal to get an optimum temperature along with a constant temperature without fluxing by trial and error.

When she came home after training, she had gotten something to eat before quickly putting on an apron. Her clones had already begun heating up exactly twenty different sand mixtures, though only the first was ready to actually begin forging. She had used water to rapidly cool the new metal, made from the iron sand, and shattered it carefully before selecting certain chips of the metal. She did that with every single mixture of metal so she had twenty piles of purified metals all slightly different from each other.

It had taken hours to finish everything and sort through the metals for what exactly she wanted, and then she began the actual forging.

Ukitake watched, with tea in hand and Kikyou at his side, as Kazeshini began heating up three different piles of metal. One was green in color, one was red, and one was simple iron. She heated them with took a few minutes, before taking what had been the green metal out to hammer it into a foot long rectangle only an inch wide and barely half a centimeter thick. She had continued flattening it and stretching it until Ukitake was sure that it was only a fraction of a centimeter. Kazeshini then folded it exactly twenty times, each time she thinned it out and folded it length wise.

She had two other clones doing the exact same thing with the two other metals.

He had been surprised when she layered the three metals together and hammered them together before folding them together again and again for exactly a total of sixty-four folds, every fold doubled up on itself as two turned to four and four turned to eight folds of metal.

At that point, Kazeshini had finished shaping the metal into what it would become, a tanto. She layered black clay onto what would be the blade and reheated the metal again before dunking it in a barrel of water which was still pretty warm from the other times she had dunked the blade in. The excess has washed off when dunked in the water but a rippling effect had been left on the edge of the blade, the entire blade had ripples because of the different colored metals that had been folded almost a dozen times.

Ukitake watched as Kazeshini then had a clone spend over an hour carefully polishing and sharpening the blade which was very, very difficult with how tough the blade was because it didn't want to change anymore at all. The clone of Kazeshini was still sitting there an hour later trying to sharpen the blade, and it was a very slow process. This just meant that the sword would take more damage and wear while still remaining sharp.

Another clone had built the saya, or scabbard, and had carefully sanded down the inside before gluing the two halves together. Kazeshini herself had painted then lacquered the saya before trying the sageo, or cord, around it so it could be attached to a belt. Another clone was creating the handle which consisted of the ho (wood handle), fish skin, tsukato (handle wraps), menuki (palm ornaments), kashira (butt cap), mekugi (bamboo pin), nakago (tang), fuchi (metal sleeve), seppa (metal spacer), tsuba (hand guard), another seppa (metal spacer), and habaki (scabbard sleeve).

It wasn't a handful of minutes when the clone sharpening and polishing the blade finished and Kazeshini began assembling all the pieces together. The blade was completed, but Kazeshini still didn't quite like how it had turned out so she merely grumbled before grouchily handing the blade to her father and left to get something to eat.

Right now, Ukitake watched her, so lady-like and beautiful, he could hardly believe all that she knew and all that she accomplished. She was strong for someone just entering her teen years, yet she was humble and not actually realizing how strong she was. Ukitake gave a little sigh and looked at the lights that lit up the village. He loved his village and clan, so much so that he would die for them. However, he knew his daughter felt slightly different. She didn't have the same ingrained loyalty that had been so ingrained into his very being. She was loyal yes, but she wasn't going to jump in front of the blade any time soon.

He thought it odd, because she had all of these ideas but he had no idea where she got them from. It terrified him sometimes that she would act on some of these ideas, ideas that no clan anywhere would ever approve of. He worried more than he cared to admit, and had literally felt the gray hairs growing whenever Kazeshini was involved while he worried, but he loved her anyways. Always would and always will love her, his only child.

Ukitake looked down at the tanto tied to his side. The same tanto Kazeshini had created all those months ago. It had saved his life already, and been the envy of many of his peers for its alien beauty and unmatched sharpness. He was proud to carry it around, something his daughter had made with her own two hands.

He looked at her, walking so calmly at his side, looking more like a delicate civilian princess than a kunoichi with calloused hands and scars to match. Ukitake was proud of her, and he wasn't willing to give her over to anyone else. Not until she wanted it, and he knew that wouldn't be for a long time.


	10. Chapter 19-20

Chapter Nineteen

(Fifteen Years Old)

Kazeshini yawned as she woke up. She had been sleeping against a massive plushy she had sown herself in boredom one day, and it was shaped like a chair with a back and arm rests, but it was still a tiger plushy that fit against the head of her futon.

Getting up and getting dressed was the next thing she did, not one to laze about when she knew being lazy could one day be her death in this bloody world. She walked outside and began her morning routine. She ran for half an hour with her weight seal increased again, and then did various other activities such as push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, squats, lunges, punching a log, kicking a log, and dozens of stretches that kept her flexible enough that she could do a forearm stand with her feet flat near her face and her entire body bent backwards.

After her morning workout, Kazeshini created a few mizu bunshins to do the chores around the house before getting something to eat herself. She was finally old enough to do the Uzumaki chains, since it was a dangerous technique that required a certain level of chakra and chakra density that only came with age. When a person ages, their chakra naturally becomes more dense which is another reason why very old shinobi, such as Sarutobi Hiruzen had been so dangerous, their chakra density and their experience.

She practiced using the chakra chains, which also required being an Uzumaki with the special Uzu chakra, for a little while before making more mizu clones to help around the house and then heading off to team practice.

Kazeshini stopped at the mission office, run by the clan head and elders, and received a mission scroll to complete with her team.

Itsui and Yuri were already sparring against each other while Hisane was currently on a mission. "Ohayogozaimasu, Itsui-kun, Yuri-kun."

"Ohayo!" Yuri and Itsui greeted back, stopping their spar to greet their teammate.

"I have some good news; our team has been chosen to partake in a mission to retrieve and artifact from the Yamatai clan. The artifact belonged to a noble family, before it was stolen. We were assigned the task of retrieving the item and bringing it back to our employer. The money given to the clan upon the completion of this mission is a large enough sum that the clan elders have pushed this on a team with higher qualifications than normal."

Yuri snorted, "We've been going on back to back missions lately to sabotage our enemy clans. This will be a break that I think is long overdue. I practically have only a single set of my kunoichi outfits that hasn't been stained by blood."

Itsui sighed but agreed with Yuri, though he wasn't often the one getting bloody since he stayed a lot as backup on such missions. He wasn't near as good at stealth as his two female teammates, but he was a better heavy hitter and tracker then both of them.

Kazeshini herself had been on twice the amount of missions compared to her teammates. Being an amazing saboteur had its good points, but she was more of an assassin. This meant that Kazeshini went on plenty of solo missions without her team. Kazeshini often hated those missions, but being so good at stealth and one hit kills meant that she was obviously a good assassin. It had all started at trying to hit fast and hard trying not to get hit since her small body couldn't take a hit when she was eight. Now she felt like she couldn't wash the blood off her hands and that they were forever stained.

Her paintings had shown this change in her psyche; where before she had drawn relaxing, natural and beautiful paintings, now she drew darker themes. Dead bodies lying bloodied by weaponry, skeletons, skulls, ravens, women from the celebration she remember during the Day of the Dead in her old world, sharks, thorn covered roses, gravesites, and other dark themes. Everything was still beautiful, with flowing lines and delicate detail, but the themes of her paintings had grown increasingly darker. Her paintings had fallen off the civilian market but the shinobi side had begun snapping them up as quick as Kazeshini could make them.

"I'll be waiting at the docks for you guys in an hour. Pack for two weeks." Kazeshini said before using shunshin to head back home, not waiting for any confirmation.

It took only a minute to grab two scrolls she kept prepared for her missions. She had a handful of scrolls labeled for different things such as a simple mission, weeklong mission, two week mission, month mission, and six month mission. These scrolls were filled with supplies to last the specified time plus a week extra just to be on the safe side for when missions go belly up. She grabbed the scroll labeled two weeks, and she grabbed her gear scroll which was filled with practically everything she might need or have use of on any type of mission she had ever been on.

From there, Kazeshini grabbed her armor and clothes that were to be worn on missions which consisted of her grey hakama top, black pants, actual leather boots since Kazeshini refused to wear shinobi sandals, black leather gloves, and a black facemask that came up past her nose to hide the lower half of her face. Her armor consisted of black leather bracers etched with fuinjutsu seals disguised as tiger stripes, black suneate (shin guards) that tied over her boots, black sode (Japanese shoulder guards) that fit tightly around each bicep, the sode were connected to metal pauldrons that fit tight to her shoulders, the pauldrons were connected to a thick armored collar that came up to her ears on either side of her neck, she also had armor around her torso that was finely decorated, and two kasazuri (plated armor) to guard on either side of her hips to her thighs.

(A/N: Google image search- Armor Hatake by Kanzzzaki)

Her hitai-ate with the Uzu clan spiral went on her forehead, and her kunai pouch was tied securely around her right thigh. Her tanto was tied to the small of her back with her large supply scroll tied underneath. Her nodachi would have been carried over a shoulder, the weapon being too long to carry any other way lest it drag on the ground, but she had only just fleshed out the fuin seals that she would be placing on the blade so she wasn't carrying it with her on this mission. Instead, she was carrying a plain katana which she was well versed in using in a seal on the back of her left pauldron; therefore she would only have to reach back to her left shoulder to unseal her weapon. Finally, the trademark bright red hair of the Uzumaki clan had been tied up in a single tail high on her head.

Kazeshini smiled warmly to her mother as she left her room all decked out in her armor ready for her mission. "Ahh, haha-ue, I am delighted to say goodbye before I left for my mission, and I will be back within two weeks." Kazeshini gave a polite bow to her mother before give the older woman a gentle hug. Kazeshini made a few quick bunshins to clean up her forging oven while she left for her mission and shunshined to the docks where Itsui was waiting.

He was dressed in armor as well, though not anywhere near as form fitting around the shoulders and torso as Kazeshini plus his armor was bright red like the Uzumaki hair unlike Kazeshini's dark blacks and grey armor. Itsui also carried a katana at his side, well versed in using the weapon but it was not something he used for every confrontation since he was more of a ninjutsu specialist. His red hair was short with only a few strands falling over his forehead, and his eyes were the common Uzumaki violet.

"Hey Kazeshini-chan!" Itsui waved excitedly, reminding Kazeshini vividly of a puppy.

"Itsui, it has not even been half an hour since we last saw each other." Kazeshini spoke with a raised eyebrow. It took so long only because she took her time putting on her armor which was a common protection nearly all clans shared in this time of war.

"So? Jeez, you need to lighten up a bit!" Itsui smiled warmly while nagging on his teammate who he had always seen acting prim and proper. That was one thing that confused him about her. She was so prim and proper yet she had refused any sort of marriage contract where as both he and Yuri had been in marriage contracts. He had already married to a cute little Uzumaki girl just within the past year and Yuri was planning her wedding for next year.

Itsui had invited his team to the wedding and had been absolutely amazed that Kazeshini had actually shown up since practically the entire village knew that she hated clan gatherings. When asked, she had replied, "I hate wasting time, but you are my teammate and I also like dressing up for something I deem worthwhile."

From that point, they had gone beyond just teammates to actual friends since Itsui had always though Kazeshini too serious to have a close friendship with other than being a team member.

Yuri came in a shunshin ten minutes after Kazeshini wearing armor that was twice as complicated compared to Kazeshini's armor, but it was fancy and told of how much money she had spent to get it with its beautiful etchings and silk tied overlapping plates. Yuri had splurged on her armor, wanting to look good even when dressed for battle. "Hey guys, are we going now?"

Kazeshini nodded before leaping off the docks and to the sea which was churning lightly even in the protected cove. The cove protected the docks and ships from the churning whirlpools that guarded the entire island. She ran swiftly across the water, headed for the whirlpools around the island.

Itsui and Yuri leapt after her, running just as swiftly over open water, and they followed behind their team leader as they raced for the mainland.

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Chapter Twenty

(Fifteen Years Old)

Kazeshini had led her team through the ever shifting maze of whirlpools and they stepped onto dry land exactly nine hours after leaving Uzu. Running straight would have only taken them four hours since Kazeshini assumed they traveled at high chunin or jounin speed, but the ever shifting maze of deadly whirlpools made the trip five hours longer.

It was a good thing that they were all Uzumaki's with the Uzumaki stamina or they would never make it without getting exhausted. Kazeshini had a slight headache from running through the whirlpools because these natural hazards weren't silent at all. Instead, they roared like beasts: loud enough to drown out a person yelling right next to you. A few hours of constant, ear numbing roaring would give anyone a headache, but Kazeshini only rested for a few minutes on the beach of the mainland before darting off with chakra aiding her speed.

Itsui and Yuri leapt after her, keeping just a bit behind her in a triangle formation.

They were all silent as they headed to their destination, mentally preparing for the mission though they each knew that it should be an easy in and out type mission.

The land was covered in forests and Kazeshini was well versed in hopping from tree to tree. The forest's branches were like a thousand different pathways all available for travel, you only had to pay attention to see it. She jumped quickly from branch to branch, around tree trunks, and using thinner branches to swing across gaps with her momentum alone.

Her armor was silent, as well oiled and taken care of as it was, Kazeshini was pleased to hear not even the soft scrape of leather on silk as she had added fuin seals of silence all over every single piece of her armor. She was silent as a wraith as she jumped through the trees, not even a mark of her chakra was left behind nor was there the scrape of a boot on a branch, not even a twig or leave was broken as she passed through as if she was a ghost.

They stopped for the night, sleeping in the trees since they had no need of a fire for warmth because their chakra could keep them warm enough. It was also a safety measure against having anyone nearby see their fire and come investigate, which always meant a fight was about to happen since the chances of meeting an allied clan member was rare when out in the field.

Kazeshini and her team ate as they ran, too professional to stop like little kids on their first out of village mission, and they ran without pause to their destination save for sleep. They only really paused for sleep because running at night was tedious and unnecessary when not on a highly important mission that was on the level of ANBU mission, from what she still remembered of the classifications.

They swiftly traveled through what would be Land of Hot Water, Rice, Waterfall, and into Earth when they finally stopped just outside of the valley which their quarry was located. The civilian compound was right next to a ninja clan, Kazeshini suspected that the ninja clan protected the civilian one for the money and other goods that ninja couldn't get or make themselves. Kazeshini scowled and gave a hand signal to her teammates to back off.

She transformed into her mismatch bird form, only for two hours, and quickly scouted the civilian compound. The artifact that they needed was some old scroll with what was said to be scripture made by some very old and very famous monk. She spotted scroll, unrolled and carefully pinned up so the scripture could be viewed, right next to a whole group of other artifacts and items Kazeshini assumed had been stolen because nothing looked like it belonged together save for all the artifacts were expensive.

With quick wing beats, Kazeshini flew back to her team and transformed on a tree branch above their heads. They jumped in surprise when she suddenly jumped down to stand right next to them after her two hours of the transformation were over. "We will not be breaking in until dark. I shall create an illusion tag so the civilian will not notice their artifact is gone. I will also be stealing the other artifacts that I assume were stolen as well. Be prepared to leave after I've stolen all the artifacts and set the tag."

Yuri and Itsui nodded before jumping into the trees to nap until dark. They all dozed for the remaining time, alert but resting for the few hours until dark. They didn't move but to stretch once in a while so cramps couldn't set in, but they waited. Kazeshini was leaning against the trunk of the tree she was resting on, her legs outstretched on the tree branch that she had chosen to rest on. Itsui was resting on a branch a bit higher on the same tree, and Yuri was lying down on a wider branch lower in the tree.

It was nearing dark when three little kids, the oldest could be no older than ten, walked right under the tree that Kazeshini, Itsui and Yuri were resting on. Kazeshini hadn't even sensed them coming, she deduced they must be from the ninja clan who must have some sort of kekkei genkei. She wasn't the best sensor in the Uzumaki clan, but she was fairly decent with a range of just over a thousand meters. That meant that these kids, still in training, could hide their chakra well enough to escape her notice. It also didn't help that these three kids had been able to disguise their chakra to mimic the signature of the goats they were herding.

All three of the Uzumaki's froze, watching with baited breath as the three children horsed around uncaring to how close they were to their three potential killers. Kazeshini made a silent hand signal, telling her two teammates to hide carefully so the three little clan kids couldn't detect them.

She herself didn't move an inch, frozen like she was stone, and watched the three playing children carefully, right until one of them dared the other to climb the tree to find a birds nest.

With a signal, Kazeshini and her teammates had leapt from the tree to force each child to collapse unconscious without warning or chance of the children alerting any clan shinobi. However, it was not to be as Kazeshini looked to her two teammates having felt the flare of chakra that the youngest unknown boy, who was lying collapsed under Yuri, had given off in his fright. She hadn't been able to cause the boy to collapse unconscious and the boy had released a burst of chakra which would easily notify enemy shinobi.

"This mission must continue, we don't know what would happen to the scrolls if this clan knew we were here to steal them. However someone must have felt that flare and will come investigate. They will know something has happened so we hide these three and continue on with the mission and finish it now." Kazeshini unsealed a bit of rope and cloth before she tied up the child she had knocked unconscious and gagged the boy with the cloth. Her teammates followed her example in tying up and gagging their two victims and watched with raised eyebrows as she slung her child underneath a particularly large goat and tied the child firmly against the animal's belly.

The stink of the animal hid any scent the kid gave off and the long fur hid both the rope wrapped around the animal and the child on its belly. The goat gave a bleat in slight distress, not liking what was happening to it but calmed when it was released to roam back with the herd of other goats. Itsui and Yuri did the same thing with their children, and they were impressed with how hard it was to spot the children who were now hidden and constantly on the move.

No matter how strong of a kunoichi Kazeshini would be, she had an ironclad rule to never hurt unarmed children and even young shinobi or kunoichi in training could be off limits. No matter how many times she killed various men and women, many of whom she had no actual quarrel with, she would never harm a child. Strapping these unconscious children to the bellies of these goats would mean that they would be disguised and hidden.

Kazeshini led her two teammates to the other side of the two compounds and small village they were located in, and with the setting sun at their back, they ran across the open field for the civilian compound. They ran swiftly, without breaking any grass beneath their feet, and quickly made their way into the building where Kazeshini had spotted the old scriptures, written by that once famous monk. Yuri and Itsui quickly began sealing away everything that hadn't been nailed down while Kazeshini quickly began painting an illusion seal on the floor. Within only a few minutes, everything had been sealed away and Kazeshini had completed the seal.

She charged it with a bit of the nature chakra stored away in the seal on her belly before taking point to leave as swiftly as they had arrived.


	11. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

(Fifteen Years Old)

Kazeshini burst silently through the open window they had entered and left at a swift sprint with Itsui and Yuri trailing behind her. They could hear calling and yelling in the area where her team had almost been compromised by those curious and playful children, so Kazeshini assumed a worried parent had gone out looking after that startled chakra burst and still hadn't found the three children.

Kazeshini silently urged her teammates to run faster, trying to leave as fast as possible. She jumped quickly from tree to tree, she saw a small clearing that was a little too big to jump across so she jumped midway with her teammates just behind her doing the same thing. Her leg muscles were already clenching in the reflex to jump again when a brace of kunai flew through the air to block her jump. She reflexively blocked the kunai and jumped forward, trying to run away swiftly.

A lucky patrol unit had spotted them escaping and tried stopping them. However, Kazeshini was in no mood to get into a flashy showdown with the other ninja when it would be easier to just outrun them. Itsui and Yuri followed her lead and didn't bother even halting their pace as they blew past the other ninja.

"Trespassers!" One of the ninja called out, giving chase while flinging their weapons around trying to get a lucky shot.

Kazeshini set a fast pace, however these ninja seemed to be good sprinters. While they might not have the stamina to keep up on a long distance chase, they had enough speed to overrun the three Uzumaki's and force an engagement. Kazeshini continued on, trying to get distance between what would be a fight and any incoming reinforcements.

They raced forward until the patrol unit had caught up with their fast sprint and were practically nipping at the three Uzumaki's heels. Kazeshini spun around quickly, and with burst of chakra condensed and shaped into thick chakra chains that burst from her back to catch the enemy nin off guard. Her blue chakra chains, made from thick links that were entwined and weaved with much smaller and delicate looking chains, were each tipped with two straight, one sided blades (A/N: like the Spear of Longinus from Evangelion only blue colored). Kazeshini's spear headed chakra chain pierced through the unsuspecting bodies of two of the nin pursuing her and her team, blood spurting from their bodies before they dropped lifelessly to the forest floor.

The last nin gave a cry of anger as he barely dodged, having been far enough away to see the attack coming and react.

"Tch, I seem to need more training with my chakra chains." Kazeshini scowled darkly and dodged the jet of water the enemy nin had shot at her. Itsui came up from behind his team lead and with a well-timed chakra technique, the last nin fell dead while his attention had been focused on Kazeshini. "Let's go, we've wasted enough time."

Kazeshini made to jump and start a swift pace back home, but over a dozen nin had them surrounded. The enemy had been following the trail left by the now dead patrol unit and their swift sprinting skills, which were faster than the three Uzumaki's, allowed them to catch up rapidly which was unfortunate as they didn't have the stamina for any sort of long distance chase. Their sprint had been fast enough to catch up and surround Kazeshini and her two teammates but not before Itsui had killed the third nin.

Kazeshini scowled and made a hand sign to her two teammates. Itsui and Yuri used a simple shunshin to suddenly appear back to back with head other along with Kazeshini to form a triangle formation on the forest floor where they had all shunshined down to for an easily defensive position.

"Hmph, fucking trespassers, you should have stayed home suckling on your mothers' tits, kiddies." The lead shinobi called out, trying to get a rise out of the three Uzumaki.

Kazeshini scowled but easily ignored the enemy shinobi while addressing her teammates, "They've seen us so no survivors. Understood?"

"Understood." Yuri and Itsui acknowledged.

The three Uzumaki drew their weapons and prepared for a fight. Kazeshini drew out her katana, since her nodachi was still in the works and not yet completed. She held the weapon so the black silk wrapped handle was held firmly in one hand while the other held the scabbard so as to prepare for an Iaijutsu technique that could come out fast and dangerous. Kazeshini crouched down with one foot in front of the other, gripping her scabbard just a little tighter as she shifted, and eyed the enemy shinobi with disdain.

Wind blew through the trees causing the leaves to rustle as if caught in a wave, and the enemy ninja were all taut as a bowstring where they stood above the three Uzumaki in the trees. An unseen signal had all the enemy shinobi jumping with either hand seals flashing or weapons raised while the three Uzumaki gave their own counter-attacks.

Kazeshini had charged her katana with chakra and with a quick swing into a picture perfect Iaido draw; she had forced a crescent of crackling chakra to cut through the space in front of her. Out of the five attacking her, two were caught by her initial wide-range technique and fell twitching as if caught by a seizure from the electricity coursing through their bodies. However, those two were dead before they even hit the ground, the slice of the Iaido technique having cut them open near in half even as the electricity of the attack fried them from the inside out.

The other three dodged and attacked quickly, trying to kill her with different earth and water techniques. She jumped above a massive spear of earth which would have skewered her through the chest, and used her katana to attack the shinobi coming from her left. That ninja spit out some sort of high-powered water jet that Kazeshini dodged before swinging her weapon behind her back to block a thrown kunai.

Kazeshini dodged a kick, swinging the blade of her katana to give solid swipe to her taijutsu attacker. The hit was blocked by a kunai and so she was forced into a high-speed battle while she was forced to dodge the ninjutsu attacks from her other two opponents. With a deft flick of her katana, the shuriken that had been thrown at her was deflected and she had to dodge another hit by the taijutsu nin.

An arrow came speeding towards her and nearly knocked her flat as it split part of the armor on her back and punctured into her chest.

With a scream, Kazeshini used another wide ranged technique with her katana that was dodged by her three opponents. Luckily, it gave her the space she needed to do a faster and more precise technique. She spun her katana around herself and charged the blade with water natured chakra, forcing a rope of water to form from the tip of the blade. Charged with lightning from a fuin seal near her hand, the long water whip cackled darkly before Kazeshini swung her weapon and wrapped the water whip around the annoying taijutsu user.

The man screamed long and loud as electricity shocked him, and Kazeshini raced forward to plunge her blade into the man's torso. She released the technique to turn the blade around and thrust its tip behind her to cut through an earth jutsu with a slice of chakra. The earth wall that had raced to crush her, split in two and Kazeshini was safe from being crushed. Mud balls flew through the air and Kazeshini had to put her strength into deflecting the mud from hurting her.

Walls of water tried to surround her, but Kazeshini only jumped away. A ninja had been waiting for her to ump and Kazeshini barely had time to bring her katana in front of her to block a fist encased in stone. Another fist dodged under the blade of her katana and smacked into her gut.

"Agh!" Kazeshini cried, blood coughing out from her badly damaged organs, and she was slammed into the ground where the walls of water then crashed down on her, trying to drown her in the fierce torrents of the technique.

"Kazeshini!" Yuri cried out in anger and tried battling their attackers even harder, her chakra chains whipping around to crush her opponents but were constantly being dodged. Itsui was also trying harder to get to Yuri, who he had great teamwork with, and Kazeshini, who was the team leader despite her younger age for missions when Hisane wasn't around.

Coughing blood, Kazeshini scowled darkly at her attackers, she blew air from her nose which bubbled upwards as she was still trapped underwater. With a bit of applied chakra, Kazeshini swung her katana to dispel the jutsu. Her weight seal had been deactivated ever since the mission had begun back in Uzu; no need to have a handicap when she could be attacked at any moment when out on a mission, so she was pissed that these shinobi could keep up no matter the rigorous and hellish training she and her teammates went through.

The jutsu was dispelled and Kazeshini had just blown it up with her own technique so it fell like rain on everyone fighting.

"Sequence Seven!" Kazeshini yelled before swiping the blood from her chin onto a seal on the handle of her katana. Yuri and Itsui easily heard Kazeshini's yell and they both quickly jumped away from the water soaking everyone. With a loud cry, Kazeshini stabbed her lightning covered katana into the water soaked ground which lit up every single enemy nin who were unprepared for the attack.

Six shinobi fell, collapsed as the lightning shocked them enough to paralyze them. That was enough for Kazeshini to release her katana and form the hand seals for a water technique. "Water Style: Drowning Lake!" From her mouth, Kazeshini spit out enough water to fill a small lake, drowning the collapsed nin who lay paralyzed underwater. The water formed a dome shape, encompassing every single combatant in water tall enough to cover the trees in the area.

The dome's membrane was just chakra, keeping the water in the tall dome shape without collapsing as Kazeshini kept it constantly fed with her won chakra to stabilize the mass of water. The enemy shinobi had no way of escaping before they were entrapped by the technique but Itsui and Yuri had already known what would happen and were safely standing on top of the water dome where the only place not covered in a chakra membrane was located, a weak spot if one knew to look for it.

A taijutsu shinobi swam swiftly, almost unimpeded by the chakra laced water, and tried attacking Kazeshini who was preparing her final technique.

Sequence seven first starts as a quick shock to the enemy when in overwhelming odds, then a technique to drown the shocked nin, and finally another technique to finish off the last of the nin entrapped by the second technique. The guidelines were up to interpretation on how exactly one executes the sequence of techniques, but it is mainly a warning that Hisane had come up with along with eleven other sequences used for various scenarios.

Kazeshini smirked and changed a good portion of the chakra inside her body into lightning before expelling it all in one great burst. Everything within the dome was electrified. Those few that might have survived were paralyzed by the shock and died from drowning, unable to move and escape.

With a wince, Kazeshini released the technique and so the water dome collapsed. Itsui and Yuri landed safely on either side of Kazeshini who was spitting out a glob of blood on the ground.

"Let's go, we need to leave." Kazeshini said while wincing and feeling for the arrowhead that was lodged in her back, the arrow shaft having broken when she was smacked into the ground.

Yuri and Itsui nodded and followed Kazeshini in a fast sprint as they quickly ran back home, both thinking that the stupid scripture scroll retrieval mission should have been shoved down the client's throat when it was given to the team. It had said only light chance of shinobi interference, not the major fight they had just gone through.

Halfway across the Land of Rice, they were ambushed by a different group of nin. These were fire users and they loved spitting fire and throwing explosives everywhere. Exhausted and with Kazeshini slightly injured as she didn't have the full motion of one of her arms because of the arrow head still embedded in the muscle of her back, they were forced to fight since there was no outrunning these ninja who were as fresh as daisies.

Kazeshini started the fight with a wide ranged swipe of crescent shaped lightning chakra from her katana's blade. She caught only one with the attack and the group of five nin was down to four. Kazeshini growled as she twisted her body around to dodge the fireballs that had been sent her way. Luckily they weren't in a forest but on a rocky cliff top, that meant no forest to burn down around their ears.

Istui was attacked by the taijutsu nin, one who used some sort of technique to cause explosions whenever he touched something. The first and only time Itsui threw a kunai at the nin, the kunai was turned into hot shrapnel that tried peppering the area in front of the enemy nin twice the speed that the kunai was thrown originally.

Yuri was attacked by an older woman, one who seemed to enjoy spitting fire just about everywhere. It was also some sort of flammable syrup so it stuck to everything and continued burning for an entire minute before dying out. Yuri was also being attacked by an earth user who was throwing rock spikes around like candy, and setting mud traps everywhere so the footing was always treacherous.

Kazeshini herself had gotten a shinobi who seemed to enjoy throwing explosive tags everywhere which were made from sloppy seal work making them dangerous but not as damaging as an Uzumaki explosive tag, and he was apparently from the same clan as the woman attacking Yuri. So, not only did he throw explosive tags everywhere, but he spit fiery syrup everywhere which caused the tags to explode which then caused the flammable syrup to go flying everywhere.

More than once, Kazeshini had been saved from small little burns from the splatter of the flaming syrup because of her armor. She was constantly dodging globs of flaming syrup but it was impossible to dodge all the little drops since they seemed to be falling like rain. It didn't help that the nin had spit out a technique that was exactly like rain save that he used the flammable syrup.

Kazeshini gave a grunt, sweat breaking out on her forehead and burns marking little spots all over her body, and she swung her katana with a wave of lightning chakra at the enemy nin.

The shinobi just laughed as he dodged, "You can do better than that kitten! I want to see you scream before I'm through with you; this is just too much fun!"

Kazeshini struggled to catch her breath as she dodged another whip made from the flammable syrup.

Now, Kazeshini was pissed.

Not only had they been found out as they were fleeing the scene of their robbery and gotten chased down by fucking sprinters… sprinters who were fast enough short distance to catch up to Kazeshini and her team (a team who had more stamina than speed compared to that clan), they had then gotten ambushed by another group of ninja who seemed to be fighting more for the thrill and bloodlust than anything else. On top of that, Kazeshini had gotten hurt and her team was exhausted.

Itsui was running of fumes and Yuri had just gotten stabbed by a kunai to the thigh so she was barely surviving in her fight.

Kazeshini was hurt, exhausted, and pissed beyond belief that no matter how much she trained, it seemed like there were monsters everywhere she looked. She suspected there were so many "S-class" ninja because everyone was constantly fighting. Therefore, because everyone was fighting, those few exceptional who survived were the best of the best. Unfortunately, Kazeshini was not yet the best of the best. In fact, she was barely a pup in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to the monsters like Madara and Hashirama were going to be.

For now, Kazeshini focused mainly on trying to stay alive.

With blood from one of the many cuts that littered what little skin wasn't armored, Kazeshini unsealed a barrier tag from a seal on her bracer with a grunt and a sharp tug of chakra, so much chakra that she felt lightheaded, and she trapped the shinobi behind a bubble of chakra. Once trapped the nin would be ensnared for at least two minutes, two minutes being the equivalent to years of time in such a high pace fight, Kazeshini ran to her teammates to help while unstrapping the armor from around her belly.

The bits of armor fell while she ran to Yuri first, and Kazeshini swiped blood on her chakra seal to release a specific seal out of eight. It was the most dangerous seal she had ever created.

Nature chakra and her own chakra exploded through the seal, and from that seal, amazing things began to happen.

The seal's entire purpose was to enhance and convince every single cell in her body that it was something else. Four out of the eight prongs she had encircling her nature chakra storage seal were transformation seals, seals that had taken years of trial and error. Still, she only had one seal currently actually usable since the other three were more likely to kill her than help. Even the one she was using now was not complete.

The seal allowed for lightning to course through every single cell in her body, and the nature chakra helped to convince each cell that it was made of lightning and not actual flesh. It was a last resort seal at the moment, taking too much chakra and too hard of a toll on her body to use for more than a minute.

From her seal, chakra seeped through her body and seemed to ooze ever so slowly through every single cell in her body. It wasn't quick, and it wasn't painless. Electric charged chakra oozed at what seemed to be the speed of molasses, and Kazeshini could feel it as her entire body seemed to be changed.

Kazeshini let out a scream of pain, vocal cords tearing with the force of her scream, and nearly dropped to her knees just ready to give from the torture the seal was causing her. However, it was over within seconds, though to Kazeshini it had felt like an hour of torture, before she was left gasping for air and feeling like she was hyped up on more drugs than an overdosed junkie.

Yuri had fought a little harder, trying to get to her team leader as Yuri thought that Kazeshini had been hurt, but Kazeshini was up and running before Yuri could actually do anything.

Kazeshini didn't even bother dodging the sticky, flammable syrup that had been shot at her from the kunoichi fighting Yuri. It would have taken time that Kazeshini didn't actually have, especially when she didn't actually need to dodge. Her entire body had been transformed and each cell had been convinced it was actually made of lightning, so there wasn't actually much there to hit. Kazeshini's body had an innate glow to it as the flaming syrup flew through her body, surprising everyone in the clearing.

"Don't touch my team!" Kazeshini screamed while jumping forward, her hand piercing into the kunoichi who had been fighting Yuri much like one Hatake Kakashi's Chidori and Raikiri strikes.

The kunoichi gave a piercing scream, electricity coursing through her entire body and cooking her from the inside out even as Kazeshini pulled her hand out of the woman's chest to run to Yuri's other attacker.

He quickly formed a mud wall and then another and another. Kazeshini, too hyped up on chakra like she was, didn't even bother jumping over or around the mud walls but instead just ran right through them. She wasn't thinking straight, and instead of doing things smart she was doing things much harder. However, her tactless waste of energy didn't matter since she had enough momentum to body bash into the shinobi even through the multiple mud walls.

The shinobi flew a few dozen feet before rolling across the ground, dead and his body twitching from the residual electricity.

Kazeshini turned to the shinobi attacking Itsui, and she ran as fast as she could, practically a glowing black shadow with red streaks from her hair that had escaped its confines and from the red scarf around her neck.

The enemy had caught up to Itsui in his desperation, having seen his two teammates die at Kazeshini's hand, and gave a dark smirk before jumping back with a call, "Katsu!"

"Nooo!" Kazeshini shrieked as she sped forward, her hand piercing through the enemy nin's neck too late to stop the explosion which blew half of Itsui's torso apart in a shower of gore. Yuri was screaming in the background and the enemy shinobi Kazeshini had trapped under her barrier tag escaped.

"You fucking bitch!" He yelled out angrily, drawing Kazeshini's attention, her eyes having been glued onto the dead form of her teammate.

Yuri had practically been handicapped by her previous fight, and she was too exhausted to fight off the last shinobi. The enemy nin had taken advantage of Kazeshini's shock and grief to attack and capture Yuri. He held a kunai to Yuri's neck and she tried struggling free without any results.

"Bitch, I was gonna kill you and be done with it, but now I wanna take my time torturing you! How dare you kill my team! Surrender or I'll slit this pretty kunoichi's throat!" He yelled out while facing Kazeshini, eyeing his opponent carefully.

Kazeshini clenched her fists and jaw tightly, she watched her enemy carefully while Yuri continued struggling. "Don't do it! Kazeshini, don't you do anyth-" Yuri screamed out before she was cut off with a punch to her skull and a large hand began choking her. Yuri could do nothing as her vision doubled from an instant concussion and her air supply cut off.

"Surrender bitch or her blood will be on your hands!" The shinobi shouted, growling darkly as he continued choking the young woman in his grip.

Yuri gasped as the grip around her neck was loosened enough to allow her to breathe, and as her vision cleared, she saw Kazeshini kneeling on the ground to surrender. Kazeshini had no chance of rescuing Yuri in a frontal charge, not with her time nearly completely run out with her transformation.

The shinobi stepped forward slowly, "Don't even think of moving, bitch." He warned as he kept a kunai against Yuri's neck. However, he quickly dropped her to the ground before getting even closer to Kazeshini.

He kicked down with one leg, stopping Yuri in her tracks as she had tried crawling away, and a loud crack sounded from where he had stomped down.

Yuri screamed as he broke her leg without a second thought, before making a quick clone that pressed Yuri's head into the dirt ready to crush her skull. He stepped forward slowly, ninja wire ready to tie up Kazeshini.

Once he was within five steps, Kazeshini leapt forward with a powerful enough push to crack the ground beneath her feet as she propelled herself at her enemy. Then Kazeshini's seal dissipated as she flew through the air at her enemy.

She glared harshly and growled out, "I would never leave my comrade behind." She brought her hand forward and with the last electrically charged chakra gathered into her finger tips, pierced through the breastbone of her enemy and pierced directly into his heart.

The clone dissipated into mud, covering Yuri's head and upper body which she pushed herself out of while clutching at her leg. Kazeshini had fallen onto her victim, unmoving and nearly unconscious.

Too much chakra had gone through her body and so most of her body such as organ tissue, muscle tissue and even bone were torn or fractured. The seal might be able to convince her cells they were actually lightning, but it wasn't a smooth transition when her cells were suddenly flesh again once the chakra flow stopped. It hurt to move or even breath at this point for Kazeshini, so she refused to move much at all.

Even her chakra coils were shot, having been pumped full of so much chakra that they had been stretched and then burnt out by the electricity.

Tears escaped her and she let out a tortured whimper as Kazeshini rolled off the dead body of the shinobi, falling to his side. She cried harder as she brought her hand up to her belly once more to unlock the chakra seal and then dragged it across the prong to change that stored chakra into healing chakra. The seal was probably the most simple of all the seals she had created, as it was natural to be able to change regular chakra into its healing counterpart with only a bit of practice.

Her seal negated having to concentrate to manually change her chakra, and the seal just automatically changed the chakra that she was siphoning through. Kazeshini was coaxing the last dregs of chakra she had stored in the main seal, the lightning transformation having been cut off when the amount of chakra reached the bottom ten percent, and simply had to use the last of her own chakra to guide the healing chakra to certain areas at a time instead of letting it run off on its own.

Having been practicing at the hospital to learn the various med-nin techniques, Kazeshini was quite well versed in using healing chakra. She would be the first to admit that she wouldn't be curing poisons or diseases anytime soon, not knowing enough to do much, but she was experienced enough to coax her already existing cells to multiply with very quick cell mitosis. She didn't have enough building blocks or nutrients in her body to waste on fixing everything, so Kazeshini focused on connecting and repairing bones and ligaments.

Once those were repaired, she used the last of any spare biological nutrients such proteins and carbohydrates to fix organs and muscles. However everything had just been a patch job, nothing she had worked on was actually completely repaired.

Kazeshini couldn't help letting tears escape as it was so painful to even stand, but she managed to get to her feet only to walk a few yards to get to Itsui. Her teammate was dead, there was no way around that, and all Kazeshini could do was pull a sealing scroll from her storage pouch and seal his remains. She drew a black band around either end of the scroll and labeled his name clearly on the front.

Picking herself up, Kazeshini quickly sealed the remains of the five enemy shinobi into a separate scroll from Itsui before collecting her katana and armor she had dropped earlier and walking to Yuri.

Yuri was crying silently, hands fisting the ground at her sides and she hadn't dared touching her leg which was bent and obviously broken right at the thigh. Kazeshini unlocked her healing seal again, the seal having cut off the moment she stopped using the healing chakra like the seal had been designed for, and guided the aloe green chakra to Yuri's leg. With a twist, Kazeshini had straightened Yuri's leg, causing the young woman to give out a cry of pain, before using the chakra to patch up the nasty break which had actually been a shattered thigh and knee cap.

Kazeshini tore her scarf off from around her neck and used her tanto to help secure Yuri's leg and keep it immobile.

"Did you get Itsui?" Yuri asked, tears making lines down her face from where they cleaned up the dirt and blood on her cheeks.

"Yes, I did."

Yuri only gave an exhausted but distressed smile, tears rushing down her cheeks while Kazeshini gave her teammate an equally exhausted and devastated smile back, "I think we should head back home right about now. Let's get you up and on my back."

Yuri nodded while Kazeshini helped her stand onto her one good leg before she frowned and tears flowed harder, "I want to go home Kazeshini-chan." Yuri was crying while she fisted the fabric of Kazeshini's top.

Kazeshini nodded, "Ya, let's go." She squatted carefully and let Yuri get on her back. Kazeshini gripped at her teammate carefully while Yuri wrapped her arms around Kazeshini's neck and shoulders.

With a slow start, Kazeshini started walking away from their battlefield. It took a few minutes before Kazeshini had reached a tree line and she jumped up into the branches. She hopped smoothly from branch to branch, being careful not to disturb her passenger whose barely patched leg wouldn't allow for any sort of weight or pressure without shattering again.

Kazeshini continued running through the trees for hours, not daring to actually stop even when it got dark. She already knew that she was travelling at a snail's crawl, because of how injured and exhausted she still was and how injured and exhausted Yuri was.

She wouldn't stop to heal herself again until she reached the safety of the Uzumaki village. Using the healing chakra took far too much concentration when she needed all her concentration to sensing for enemies. Even when she didn't have to convert her own chakra into healing chakra, just guiding it took far too much concentration than she was comfortable using when she had another person relying on her to stay alert.

Without stop, Kazeshini ran through the rest of the day and night. At that point, her own chakra and nature chakra had been filtered into her stomach seal so she stopped to use a slow release attachment seal, the seventh of her eight total extra attachment seals. The nature chakra was so much more powerful than her own chakra, so she was given a major boost that energized her while using it fast enough not to even have the remotest risk of turning to stone.

With the extra boost from nature chakra mixed with her own chakra, Kazeshini burst forward far faster than before.

Luckily, the extra boost from her nature chakra seal allowed Kazeshini to outrun their pursuers who had been following a few hours after Kazeshini and Yuri had left the battlefield.

Kazeshini ran without stop until they came to the coast. Yuri had helpfully gotten out some ration bars for them to eat since Kazeshini was using her hands to hold Yuri up on her back. Once on the coastline Kazeshini sped across the sands, her footprints getting erased by the waves that splashed up onto the sand. She ran for over an hour across the beach until she saw a small Uzumaki owned port town.

The port town was one of two that the Uzumaki helped patrol and guard which earned the Uzumaki a protection fee from both towns. Along with that, the small port towns had the few ships that could easily sail through the whirlpools because of specially designed seals. These ships were used mainly for trade and the occasional charter to and from Uzu.

Kazeshini slowed down so she was walking as she stepped through one of the entrances into the village. "Yuri, my storage scroll has some money which we can pay for a charter to Uzu."

Yuri nodded and reached under her where she was actually almost sitting on Kazeshini's supply pouch. She pulled out the scroll and unraveled it carefully until she came to the storage seal labeled 'money.'

"Just write in the amount of money in the blank space with blood and then use chakra to release it, I carry all the money in notes of one-thousand."

(A/N: 1000 ryo is about 100 US dollars)

Yuri nodded and released four-thousand ryo from the seal, enough to get a charter to Uzu.

Kazeshini walked to the docks, and immediately walked to a group of joking sailors who were all laughing around while playing cards. "Excuse me, but we are looking to charter a skiff to Uzu as soon as possible." Kazeshini looked up and saw the clouds moving in the opposite direction the winds closer to the ground were moving, "If we leave now, we could make it before a storm hits."

One of the sailors stood up, "Costs fifteen-hundred each."

"You get extra if you can get us to Uzu as fast as possible." Kazeshini replied while Yuri handed three notes over while waving the fourth note from over Kazeshini's shoulder.

The sailor nodded with a grin before waving Kazeshini over to a specific ship. His boat was small, a skiff, and its sails were already unfurled. Kazeshini jumped carefully onto the boat and set Yuri down into a seat before walking to the dock to untie the ship from the dock. The sailor stood at the wheel and helped guide the ship away while Kazeshini jumped onto the deck.

The sailor seemed to understand the mood and stayed silent while catching as much wind as he was able to propel the skiff forward. The closer they got to home, the darker both Yuri and Kazeshini's mood became. Yuri was fingering Itsui's body scroll, not having let it out of her sight the moment Kazeshini had handed it over upon request.

The skiff sailed in and out of the whirlpools, the constant and almost violent up and down motion had both kunoichi using chakra to stick to their seats while the sailor had strapped himself to the wheel. However they seemed to only be sailing in choppy seas instead of the powerful whirlpools which were roaring loudly and dangerously. The seals on the keel of the boat were designed to reject the pulling and spinning power of the whirlpools so they were quite safe while in the ship, though they would be sucked down to the depths if they fell overboard.

It took only six hours to see the docks of Uzu, the tailwinds caused from the building storms speeding them along and cutting an eight hour journey down two hours.

Once they were docked, Kazeshini helped Yuri onto her back again and paid the sailor the fourth thousand ryo note. She leapt forward to the clan head's office, and ignored all murmuring that followed her since it seemed that everyone noticed that Itsui was missing.

Yuri knocked politely onto the clan head's office door, since Kazeshini's hands were full holding Yuri onto her back, and they waited a minute before being called in.

"Report." Uzumaki Saito said while he sat behind his desk dressed in fine silk robes going over a few other mission scrolls.

Kazeshini gave a polite nod since she couldn't give a full bow while Yuri was on her back. "Sir, the mission was complete but it went FUBAR before we started. Three children nearly compromised our position so we subdued without killing however one child let out a burst of chakra before being knocked unconscious. We continued the mission after disguising the three children and collected the mission objective before setting a genjutsu seal to disguise the theft." Yuri handed over the scroll which had the texts in it but kept the scroll which they had used to seal everything else.

"We escaped without being caught but ran into a five man patrol team during our escape. They had some sort of internal kekkei genkei that had them sprinting much faster than we were capable of. We had more stamina so we could have outrun them if it was a matter of distance but they were able to overrun us in the short distance sprint. We killed them easily enough however reinforcements came before we could flee the scene. They were killed shortly thereafter but we sustained light injuries as well as coming out exhausted.

"We were headed back to Uzu when halfway; we came across another patrol team from some other clan who could spit flammable sticky syrup." Kazeshini gestured for Yuri to pass over the scroll containing the five bodies of their enemies, "We were already exhausted and I was injured so we struggled during the battle. Yuri had gotten hurt a minute into the fight and so I put a barrier against the shinobi I was facing to activate a lightning conversion seal that I then used to defeat the two shinobi facing Yuri. The shinobi fighting Itsui had some sort of blood line that allowed him to explode whatever he touched and I ran to help him in his fight when he was killed by an explosion."

Yuri gripped the body scroll holding Itsui tighter before releasing it to stand it carefully on the clan head's desk and Kazeshini gripped Yuri tighter against her back.

"I killed that shinobi however the one I had originally been fighting escaped the barrier and had subdued Yuri to use as a hostage while I was emotionally compromised by Itsui's death. From there, I surrendered to spare Yuri's life where the shinobi shattered Yuri's leg. I then killed him when he got close enough trying to tie me with ninja wire. After that, I helped patch Yuri's leg and made a nonstop trip back to Uzu."

The clan head was silent while Kazeshini stood stiff, waiting for her verdict.

"The mission was accomplished even with Uzumaki Itsui's death and a funeral will be held in a week as is standard. Here is your mission payment." The red headed clan leader handed over a stack of bills he had stored in a drawer. "Check yourselves into the hospital for a check-up. Dismissed."

Kazeshini carried Yuri carefully, her feet dragging in the ground as she made her way to the clinic. Once there, an Uzumaki checked them both over and Yuri's leg was set in plaster to keep it straight and hopefully so it wouldn't be broken again in its delicate state as Kazeshini had only done a patch job. The doctors had more immediate cases they needed their attention on so Yuri and Kazeshini were released quickly.

"I'm giving my share to Itsui's family." Kazeshini stated while looking at Yuri, "Keep your share since you will be off the mission list for a few weeks or more because of your leg."

Yuri grit her teeth but nodded in understanding, "I'm going home. I don't want to be around when that pompous noble comes around for his stupid sacred texts." Yuri spit at the ground before turning around to head home while hobbling on her crutches.

Kazeshini turned to Itsui's home and family house before heading there as quick as she could lift her aching feet.

She was covered in blood and cuts, her clothes were torn and her armor dented and scratched up in places. Her hair was a frightful mess and she probably stunk to high heaven. Kazeshini had bags under her eyes from not sleeping well for the first half of her mission and then not sleeping at all as she fled with Yuri across the continent back to Uzu.

All in all, she was an exhausted, frightful, stressed out mess. Kazeshini was also personally going to see Itsui's family and give her condolences. Once at Itsui's family home, she knocked politely and was ushered into the sitting room to wait while Itsui's parents and wife came out.

Kazeshini swallowed heavily at the sight of Itsui's wife who was heavily pregnant with Itsui's second child, the first who Kazeshini had babysat only twice since she had been highly uncomfortable near small children and was only needed since no one else could watch the small babe.

Looking at Itsui's family, Kazeshini could already tell they understood that something had gone wrong on the mission. With tears dripping down her face, Kazeshini prostrated herself in front of the family with her forehead pressed flat against the ground in dogeza and with the money earned from the mission pushed out in front of her. "I must give my condolences. I was not strong enough to save Itsui and his death is on my hands. The clan head, Saito-sama, is currently in possession of Itsui's body and the only reparation I can give is the mission earnings as Itsui-san can no longer help provide for his family."

Kazeshini was crying into the floor silently.

"I am sorry I could not bring him back alive."

Itsui's family was crying and Kazeshini could hear Itsui's wife getting up to leave, weeping and wailing out her distress. Kazeshini stayed with her face to the ground until a hand touched her shoulder.

"Thank you for bringing his body back." Spoke Itsui's father, tears shining visibly in his eyes though he was too proud to allow them to fall in front of a non-family member. Kazeshini stood up and gave a deep bow before leaving quickly, heading home to throw the scroll full of loot from the mission in the corner of her room to sort later.

Kazeshini scowled darkly as she untied her armor and put it in a pile on the ground outside near her smithing area so it would be repaired later. With a quick bath, cleaning and using plenty of a nice muscle-relaxant cream that helped to sooth sore muscles as well as helping keep any scars elastic instead of stiff. She braided wet hair so it wouldn't get tangled, and shuffled off to her room as quick as a zombie to collapse in bed.

Clutching one of her stuffed tigers like a small child, Kazeshini fell asleep crying.


	12. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

(Fifteen Years Old)

Kazeshini and a group of special chishio (blood) clones were all working on her nodachi.

They were keeping the fires hot, too hot to actually be near without a protective coating of chakra, and they constantly had to replace the cooling water since Kazeshini was dunking the blade in the water so often it began boiling from the heat. The blade was being made from chakra conductive metal, titanium, and tungsten carbide giving the blade a silver, dark silver, and blue-silver colored metals. She had been working on the sword without pause for five days and didn't plan on stopping until it was finished because stopping in the middle of the process would ruin the blade.

Kazeshini wanted a nice round number for the amount of folds that she was making in the long blade, wanting some sort rounded number however 100 was a bit too small Kazeshini had thought, so she chose 1,000 (it would actually come out to be 1,024 folds as folding it went 2-4-8-6-32-64-128-256-512-1024) for the folds. Tungsten had a melting point of 2,870 C° (5,198 F°) so Kazeshini was making tungsten as the core and back of the blade however she had been forced to mix and melt the chakra conductive metal with the tungsten so the blade conducted chakra easily without ever having a chance of breaking or snapping.

She had folded the metal exactly ten times with each folding layer compounding on itself, aligning the metal so that it was nearly impossible to work with by the tenth fold (or 1,024th fold). From there, Kazeshini had folded titanium and chakra conductive metal together to form what would be the edge and tip. She and a clone hammered the two parts to the sword while another clone hammered a very thin copper rod that would go between the two folded metals. The titanium edge was shaped carefully so the edge would be easier to sharpen and the back that would fit to the tungsten was shaped with hundreds of little prongs that were very, very carefully shaped on both sides of the back of the edge. The tungsten back was shaped smoothly and the part that would fit against the titanium edge was very, very carefully smaller with hundreds of small prongs like the edging.

The copper 'wire' was fit carefully between the titanium and tungsten parts, and the hundreds of prongs, counted over 1,000 like the amount of folds that both the titanium and tungsten edge and back had gone through. The blade was fit together ever so carefully, and the thousands of prongs, totaling to four-thousand tiny hair-like prongs, were carefully and delicately weaved together with chakra coated hands before being hammered into shape. Heating the blade one more time had the copper wire melting from in-between the blade and back, and the holes purposely created in the tungsten carbide back all the way from the tip of the blade to the tang allowed for the copper to drip out without the rest of the blade melting since both the tungsten and titanium had a much, much higher melting point.

In a normal sword, the holes would stress the integrity of the blade causing it to shatter too easily, but Kazeshini had used tungsten carbide with chakra conductive metal which allowed for the blade to be nearly indestructible.

During the entire process, Kazeshini had also been pouring her chakra into the blade. Being a constant open conduit to chakra from a clone, which was eating and popping chakra pills like mad, stressed her chakra coils almost beyond what they could handle especially after the stress when she had used her lightning transformation seal. Along with her chakra, not using nature chakra during the process, Kazeshini had bled all over the blade at multiple points during the smithing. During the weaving of the four-thousand prongs, Kazeshini had also weaved a thousand strands of her long red hair into the metal mesh.

It had taken hours and hours to even heat up the oven enough to soften tungsten enough to actually begin working with, and Kazeshini had to get a clone to run to an actual smithy to buy dozens of bags of charcoal and wood chips to help fuel the fires. The clay oven had actually begun melting from the heat so Kazeshini had been forced to draw seals on the oven to turn the heat back into the oven so nothing dissipated at all and the oven didn't melt.

From there, once the oven was hot enough, Kazeshini had spent days and days to hammering out her nodachi. It was complete on the fifth day, having been working nonstop and without pause save for something small to eat or using the bathroom while the blade reheated.

Another two clones had been creating a simple tanto and katana pair that would be gifted to Itsui's family while Kazeshini had been working on her nodachi. The blades were simple chakra conductive metal mixed with leftover titanium chips that had been layered onto the blade to give it a dragon scale appearance once the chips had been folded individually three times each and carefully shaped into scales while the chakra conductive metal had also been folded and carefully shaped. The two blades had been finished and placed carefully in completed scabbards and silk wrapped handles long before Kazeshini had finished with her nodachi.

Once the blade was finished, Kazeshini painted the scabbard which had been carved out by a clone, and painted a weave pattern all the way down the black scabbard with silver paint while lining the thick silver lines with dark silver-blue to highlight the weaves. The black paint of the sheath shown out from between the silver and silver-blue creating a beautiful contrast that highlighted a simplistic beauty. The silk wrap of both the handle and the cord around the scabbard had been dyed black while the various ornaments including the kashira and tsuba were a dark-silver color having been made from melted titanium.

Kazeshini crashed halfway through painting the scabbard so one of her clones finished the job before giving it a strong lacquer so the paint wouldn't be damaged or peeled. Then a seal was added so the scabbard couldn't get damaged or destroyed while the same seal was added to the handle of the nodachi since it wasn't nearly as indestructible as the blade. However, dozens of seals were added to blade with careful brush strokes that would make the blade something of an elite blade like the Seven Swords of the Mist. The blade was already sporting a budding sentience, much like Samehada would be sentient, and the clones made sure to coax that sentience into life by painting dozens and dozens of seals that would eventually allow the blade to do various special actions as well as choose its wielder should Kazeshini ever die.

Kazeshini was snoring loudly in her room, a sheet draped over the futon so none of the soot or sweat stained her futon as she hadn't been able to wash up before crashing half-unconscious. Kikyou and Ukitake were keeping an eye on their daughter, worried for her as they had heard about the death of Itsui, and they were worried how she had stayed up for five days working on a blade. For five days, all they had heard was the loud clanging of metal striking metal, and it had been a fast repetitive clanging noise as Kazeshini had been using chakra to speed up her strikes along with the copious amount of chakra that had been siphoned into what Kazeshini had been creating. The only way for Kikyou to help was making calorie heavy meals which a blood clone ate along with Kazeshini for the energy to be converted into chakra.

Kikyou had also helped by grinding the chakra pills into the food, carefully regulating the supply of pills so Kazeshini didn't go into a coma from overdose, which was easy since most people got the shakes after using three chakra pills and a four to fifth pill would cause a person's body to shut down. Kikyou had carefully counted out the pills Kazeshini and her blood clone had eaten, carefully only allowing a certain number a day along with all the food the two had eaten to keep up the near constant chakra output.

Now, Kikyou was helping wipe down Kazeshini's limbs and change her from the soot stained yukata into something cleaner. She had then made more snacks which could be eaten once her daughter awoke from her exhausted sleep.

Ukitake was watching Kazeshini's clones work even when Kazeshini was knocked out, and he watched as they began cleaning up though the oven would have to wait since it was too hot to do anything with save let it cool slowly so the oven didn't crack. The clones scurried around like busy little ants, each with their own job and purpose until one by one the clones began popping. They either dispelled in a small tub as they popped into pools of blood, or they dispelled themselves in the flower bushes as they popped into a puddle of water. The last two clones left didn't dispel but instead they began working on repairing Kazeshini's armor and repainting over the scuff marks so the armor shone like new.

Over fifteen hours after Kazeshini crashed, she awoke with a growling stomach and an insistent need to use the restroom. After using the bathroom to do her business and taking a quick bath, changing into clothes that Kikyou had set out, Kazeshini set upon any and all food available like a ravenous beast. Manners were set aside for trying to eat as fast as possible from everything that was in reach.

Calorie heavy foods that had been set out were gobbled up quickly until barely any crumbs were left from the large banquet that had been set out. "Thanks haha-ue, that was really good, thank you."

"You're welcome, Kazeshini-chan. Now, go get clean again and get dressed, I can still see soot in your hair."

Kazeshini blushed and gave a nod of acknowledgement, "Of course, haha-ue." Kazeshini slipped from the dining room and took another bath, making sure to scrub her hair enough times so the water ran clear without any traces of soot. Once she was sure she was clean, Kazeshini dressed in a simple yukata before making her way to her room where the three new blades were waiting to be named.

The blades had been sharpened while Kazeshini was asleep by her clones, and so now all Kazeshini needed to do was paint the three blade's names on their scabbards and etched into the blade.

A diamond cutter was used to etch the names of the blades into the titanium scales of the katana and tanto along with the tungsten carbonite of the nodachi. The tanto was named Gyorin meaning fish scales, the katana was named Ryu-uroko meaning dragon scales, and Kazeshini's nodachi was named Issen Amimasu meaning One-Thousand Weaves. She etched the names of each blade onto the flat of either side of each blade, and painted the names of each blade onto the scabbards in silver ink for the plain black scabbards of Gyorin and Ryu-uroko but in black ink onto one of the thick silver lines of the painted scabbard of Issen Amimasu.

With a quick use of a lacquer to protect the newly painted names on the scabbards, Kazeshini sat back and admired her work. Once she finished inspecting each blade, Kazeshini set up some practice posts by rolling up old tatami mats and gave a simple chakra-less slash with the tanto. There was barely any resistance as she cut through the rice straw mats, three in one row, and an inspection of the blade showed no sort of damage or wear at all from the cut. A trial with the katana showed the same craftsmanship with no wear or damage at all to the blade or edge.

Kazeshini gripped get her nodachi, saving it for last, and gave a blissful sigh as the chakra infused within the blade resonated with her own chakra like two instruments playing in harmony. Kazeshini gave a swing, the blade seemed to hum in her hands as she cut through the air and through the three tatami mats fast enough to blur the blade in front of her eyes. She then resheathed the blade without the tatami mats having even moved. With a smirk, Kazeshini only had to wait a few seconds for a wonderfully timed breeze to blow over the cut mats.

Kazeshini unsheathed her nodachi to check for any damage and smiled when the blade shone as though it had never been used before. She checked over the holes, pouring a chakra into the blade so each hole venting a bit of chakra, and the whole blade lit up with energy. With a swing, the blade sung in her hands with a harmonic whistle, and a wave of chakra was released without any harm to the blade as the chakra flowed smoothly through the folded metals and any excess was spilled into the inner tube that went all the way down the blade. She resheathed Issen Amimasu with only the bare whisper of wood on metal before it clicked home.

The sword was taller than she was by half a foot, all the height including the blade and hilt. She was only five foot three inches, and she knew that she was not quite yet finished growing. Everyone she had ever met was taller than five foot five, so Kazeshini expected to grow at least a few more inches. Her blade was tall enough that even when shoulder to opposite hip while across her back, the hilt stuck more than a few inches above her head while dragging on the ground. So, Kazeshini would be forced to carry the blade on one shoulder, comfortably looping her arm over the scabbard so the blade rested securely on her collarbone.

Kazeshini went back inside and went to her four instruments and chose the koto to sit down and practice with. It had been weeks since she last sat down and played music, she was so busy with training all the time than any of her free time was then relegated to creating her ink paintings to bring in money for her smithing projects. As she didn't sell any of her blades, though she had only begun successfully making swords and other weaponry for a short time, the metals cost more money than she could spare with just mission pay. So, to pay for all the metals she had used, which most of it had been scrapped in the hundreds of trials trying to create different blades, she spent a lot of her time creating paintings that were in high demand especially depending on the theme which caused either the civilians to snap up the work or shinobi.

Relaxing, Kazeshini began by tuning her instrument before actually playing anything. The strings were tightened or loosened depending on the exact pitched Kazeshini wanted, and then she began playing without thought to an already written piece. Free style was something she enjoyed; however she hadn't quite ever actually written anything down as any time she played free style, she never quite finished one melody before jumping to another.

She hummed along for an hour, playing to her heart's content while Kikyou and Ukitake sat nearby with tea in hand. They listened to the music, sometimes calm and sometimes sad, but it was soothing nonetheless. Kazeshini was playing to relax, messing up frequently as she hadn't played in a while and it took a bit for her fingers to dig into the muscle memory related to music instead of killing. However she was enjoying herself.

As Kazeshini played, she thought about her previous life. As a college student, she had skated by with high grades without doing nearly any studying. She had been highly intelligent but hadn't had any sort of work ethic to actually go far. She had also constantly tried bending the rules, hating that she had to follow orders since her father had been a military officer and brought his military attitude, an attitude that meant everyone had to jump at his command without complaint, home with him and expected an introvert daughter to follow his commands. They hadn't gotten along well at all, and her attitude of hating to follow commands given by some sort of military officer had carried over into her new life though she hid it well.

Truthfully, she hated having to jump to the tune of the clan head but she did it anyways since Kazeshini knew she wasn't yet strong enough to survive without the backing of her clan. What helped was that her new father, Uzumaki Ukitake, wasn't strict and with such a harsh patriarchal mindset though the habits of the society were already ingrained in both her parents for them to consciously try deciding they wanted to escape their roles.

Kazeshini would continue to jump through hoops like a well-trained dog for her clan, and she would keep her dissatisfaction to herself like she had always done (though she suspected her father knew of her different mindset since he didn't dare treat her like some other fathers treated their children) and wait till she was strong enough to leave. Kazeshini had also thought of exactly how she wanted to leave her clan. She didn't want to become a missing nin, since they were always hunted by everyone, but instead wanted to maybe fake her death. Kazeshini didn't think she would get the political clout to be able to walk away from her clan like that one medic lady.

With a pause in her music, Kazeshini thought a little harder trying to remember that name, _'Ahh, Tsunade. That's her name.'_ Kazeshini thought to herself. It had been years since she had last actually read the manga Naruto, fifteen years to be exact, and it didn't surprise her that she was forgetting names of different characters. The main ones she truly remembered were Naruto (obviously since the manga was named after him), Kakashi (because she had always thought him pretty badass though not the strongest character), the four main Uchiha (Madara, Obito, Itachi, and Sasuke), and Kaguya (she just looked so elegant with her kimono and those bunny ears) with her creepy son Zetsu. Other than those names, the characters had started to blur together and she hadn't gone over her notes in years.

She had chosen, all those years ago, not to stress over the details of the manga and to not stress over her future. Instead, she had chosen to focus on one goal and that was to find a way to live long enough to actually make a difference. Kazeshini had known that if she had stressed over every single detail of how exactly she was going to change the plotline, she would neglect actually living.

Itsui had been a good comrade, and she had tried distancing herself from her teammates as Kazeshini had known they all might die one day. It hurt; it hurt so bad that her closest friend had died. Because no matter how hard she had tried distancing herself from everyone, her teammates had still wiggled their way into her heart.

Tears dripped down her face as she remembered all the fun times with her friend and teammate. Kazeshini gave a choked laugh as she remembered a time when he and Yuri had been out training with her when Itsui had fallen in a pit of mud. Yuri had laughed and laughed right up to the point that Itsui had thrown a glob of mud that smacked into Yuri's face. Those two had squabbled and wrestled in the mud, trying to shove the slimy stuff down the back of each other's shirts and pants up until the point that Kazeshini had used a jutsu to create a tidal wave of mud that completely covered her two teammates in the stuff. They had both stopped in shock, completely drenched in mud, before turning on her and trying to splatter Kazeshini with mud. Their sensei had come back from checking with the clan head and had seen all three of them covered in mud.

Kazeshini smiled a bit through her tears, remembering other fun times with Itsui, and she promised to look after his kids until they were strong enough to look after themselves. She practiced a bit more until she grew tired of playing, and went out to practice a bit with her new nodachi, Issen Amimasu.


	13. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

(Sixteen Years Old)

Kazeshini sighed, gripping her nodachi tightly to her shoulder. The team had split up after Itsui's funeral. Hisane had been given a new position in the Uzumaki clan as a guard to the clan head and Yuri had retired for now since she had married and had gotten pregnant. While they were stuck around the village most of the time, Kazeshini had been fast tracked through the assassin and seduction corps, of which there were only six other kunoichi out of the fourteen members.

While the Uzumaki clan was small enough that everyone knew everyone's name, it wasn't small enough that there weren't different divisions and specialties. The clan had maybe a five hundred members total, and half of those were civilians. The other half consisted of shinobi from the ages of training students to the older generation who hobbled around on canes and hunched backs. The multiple divisions consisted of the obvious sealing division who specialized in seals and kept the island safe with the barrier seal, the clan guards who hung around guard the main branch and the clan head, the less obvious Intel division, the demolition division, genjutsu division, and assassination and seduction division.

However, each division only had around twenty members total, the rest of the Uzumaki shinobi took regular missions and focused on flashy ninjutsu.

Kazeshini had been picked up by the seduction and assassination division as soon as she hit sixteen. The clan head had put an age requirement for this division as no one would have approved of sending children on seduction missions and hard core assassinations. Don't get her wrong, she had done assassinations before along with sabotage and other types of stealth missions, however she hadn't ever gone on long undercover missions or missions that required her to know her target before the assassination. All her previous targets, few that there had been, had truly been platforms for which her division separated the wannabes from the actual talent.

Right now, she was hanging around the lounge for her division, where some of the others were hanging around enjoying themselves. Kazeshini hadn't seen her parents in months, having been specially trained and gone on dozens of supervised missions with the different high ranking members of her division. Kazeshini's first seduction mission, which had really been a training mission, had been with an ally clan and so she had secretly seduced her target and 'killed' him. Luckily, she had her first sexual experience be with one of her new team members so her first time wasn't out on the field.

She had gone through dozens of training sessions, taught to her by different teachers, and they had all been halfway to mortifying until she learned to deal. The training methods her division used were not anything she would have ever thought of as actual training. She was introduced to three partners, two males and female, and she was required to have sex with them. One memorable time was when she was having sex with one male and her three trainers (all higher ranked members of the division) were standing and sitting around the bed telling her how exactly she should be moving for the role she was playing. She had been blushing fiercely as the two older women began helping her to move a certain way on her male partner while also giving tips to doing other sexual things.

Kazeshini had trained for months, unable to leave the training facility which was located underground, and either spent time under the supervision of trainers during physical training, during sexual training, plain seduction training, and assassination training. They had her practicing to act like a maiko, a geisha, a whore, a miko, a common civilian, and a dozen other roles which also included the roles she would act in when offered to share a bed. This also included how she should act if she was required to have sexual relations with multiple people which could or could not include her target. They had also spent a week on pain tolerance, getting her used to physical violence during sex and for torture if she was found out. They had also put her through copious amounts of emotional conditioning so her psyche couldn't have the chance of fracturing while on missions.

Now, Kazeshini was waiting for her first true mission, one where she wasn't seducing a target from an ally village so there was no chance of getting hurt if she was found out. She was going to get a mission with a potential enemy target. Luckily, it would be a civilian mark so she didn't have much chance of getting hurt too badly compared to a shinobi if she were to be found out.

"Your name for this mission will be Nakagawa Sayuri, you are required to seduce the target, one Takemoto Hirotada. The wife wishes to have proof of illicit affairs so she can get out of the marriage by showing the proof to her family."

Kazeshini gave a short bow to Uzumaki Ichizo, the commander of the small seduction and assassination division, and took the mission scroll from his outstretched hand.

"When you are finished with your mission, you have a second mission that Intel points will be in the area." Ichizo handed Kazeshini another scroll. "A wealthy civilian will be traveling to the area and you are to seduce and then assassinate your target."

Kazeshini gave another bow and took the scroll from her commander, "Yes sir." She didn't even bother feeling annoyed by being ordered around, her feelings on getting ordered around had been found out by her trainers and it had been nearly beat out of her. Luckily, she had retained her sense of defiance but now it was carefully hidden beneath layers and layers of obedience, especially because she had twenty years of disobedience to fall back on from her previous life.

Quickly, Kazeshini ran to her room in the division's facility and sealed her armor in a seal on her wrist which then disappeared. The seal on her stomach had already been invisible for all of her training because she hadn't wanted anyone seeing it and trying to decipher it which was what the eighth and final component of the branched seals did. She sealed anything else that she thought might be needed and ran out of the building wearing a gorgeous blue kimono with red flower blossoms all along the sleeves and bottom edge with a plain red obi with simple wave patterned stitching. Her hair had been transformed with a hidden seal at the nape of Kazeshini's neck from the bright red into a silky black that fit well with her normal hime cut.

Being a ninja, it was easy to run in geta, so she didn't bother putting on proper shinobi footwear. She ran across the waters surrounding Uzu, easily just jumping over each whirlpool with diameters of at least a hundred yards, and made it to the mainland in six hours. Kazeshini ran for a few more hours before slowing down and unsealing her shanshin (a three stringed instrument), a flute which she stuck in her obi, and a backpack which she had stuffed with a few changes of clothes though her kimonos were sealed away so they wouldn't be crinkled or ruined by accident. She only had to walk for an hour, before entering a large enough town that a few nobles lived there.

Her target, Takemoto Hirotada, was supposedly an upstanding member of the higher class here in this town. Now, all Kazeshini needed to do was seduce herself into Hirotada's bed. Hopefully she could finish the mission in time to relax before her assassination.

Takemoto Hirotada was already walking around with his wife, Takemoto Fumika, and they were surrounding by a contingency of samurai guards and servants. The two were sampling foods from different vendors and buying expensive trinkets that probably could pay for the food of an entire village feast. Kazeshini watched her target carefully and went over to a geisha house where she knew she could pay for a night and not get harassed.

"How long are you staying here?" The matron asked politely and looked carefully at Kazeshini who knew she had dust on the bottom edge of her kimono and covering her black painted geta.

"Only a few days, onna." Kazeshini replied easily enough, "I can pay in coin now if needed."

The old woman nodded and realized that Kazeshini must travel to travel and not because she was poor though it looked like she wasn't wearing an overly expensive kimono. "It will be five-hundred ryo a night." Kazeshini nodded and fished out a few bills from her purse which had been stuck in her obi.

"Here you go, have a pleasant evening." Kazeshini said while handing over the money with a well-practiced smile, fake to her but caused the old woman to blush a bit from the positive attention from a very, very beautiful young woman.

The woman smiled demurely back and handed Kazeshini a key to a room which Kazeshini set off towards wanting to change and go out to spy on her target. Once inside the room, she locked the door and set a chair under the door handle so it couldn't be forced open. With a quick change, Kazeshini changed into a simple black yukata top, black pants, black gloves, and tied her hair beneath a handkerchief. With booted feet, Kazeshini leapt from her room's window onto the roof of another building and proceeded to locate her target.

He was still in the market place with his wife and guards, so Kazeshini hung around and watched his actions carefully. She watched for hours and followed him carefully even when he went home.

For three more days, Kazeshini carefully noted his exact type and took pictures of the three women that Hirotada brought into his home. Each woman left the next day carrying some cash and some sort of trinket that looked expensive but was fake and cheap.

On the fourth day, Kazeshini got dressed in a beautiful kimono with just enough makeup to highlight her face but not caked on like young maikos. She put on white powder for her face, some pink on her cheeks, painted her eyelids dark purple, and painted her lips a bright red. Kazeshini then began twisting up her hair in a decorative display while adding simple but beautiful pins such as a black comb with purple flowers, a few black pins decorated with more purple flowers, and a flower arrangement that had a few dangling bits of silver that jangled delicately. Then she put on the various layers of her furisode. The outer layer was black with white vines creeping up from all edging stitched with more purple flowers, the obi was simple purple with large flower outlines in white, and her zori were plain black. However, all her clothes and even the hair ornaments were slightly scuffed as if she were struggling for money.

Kazeshini made her way downstairs with her flute in her obi but found a koto in a roofed garden attached to the geisha house. Modori sat demurely behind the large instrument and began playing intricate pieces that attracted a fair few other men and women to sit around listening politely while drinking tea as she played. Around noon, Kazeshini took a break to eat something and let her fingers rest as she had been playing for a few hours. Around one, she began playing again until she saw her mark walking by the garden with his guards like he did every day after lunch. It was around dinner that he walked around with his wife to show her off like some sort of trophy while spending wealth frivolously.

He nudged a guard, his captain, and pointed to Kazeshini as she played on the koto. Kazeshini didn't bother using chakra to try overhearing their conversation knowing who exactly the man was pointing to, and continued playing without pause. A few meiko giggled at the noble as he stood out on the road clearly looking in on the various geisha that were sitting around the koto player.

Kazeshini played for a few more hours before stopping around dinner. She put away her pick and smoothly stood up from where she had been kneeling behind the large instrument. Dinner was simple, some rice and some fish, but she was given a written note by a young girl just beginning her meiko training.

"Thank you, girl." Kazeshini stated politely while she tucked the note away in her obi. She finished the meal and then looked at the note indicating she was asked for by a costumer up at the front desk.

Kazeshini put away her dishes and took carefully delicate and measured steps up to the front where the captain of Hirotada's guard stood waiting patiently.

"You wished to see me, sir?" Kazeshini asked politely.

"Yes, ma'am, I was asked if you would play at Lord Takemoto's home tonight. You will be paid handsomely for your time."

Kazeshini gave a polite nod, "Do you wish for me to bring an instrument?"

The guard shook his head, "The Lord Takemoto has a koto that can be brought out for you if you wish."

Kazeshini stepped forward and politely placed her arm on the guard's when it had been offered to guide her to the Lord's home. They walked through the streets and more than a few people looked at her form and stopped what they were doing as they passed. Kazeshini gave a cute little smile, hidden by the sleeve of her furisode, as she saw one man run into a wall and a few others accidentally dropping food from chopsticks into their laps as they walked passed a restaurant.

Once she was inside the massive building that made up the Takemoto home, she was guided to a large and expensive koto that sat in a corner of a large room where Hirotada was already sitting and sipping on tea.

Kazeshini gave the lord a polite bow before sitting behind the koto and playing a gentle but intricate tune. He conversed politely, which Kazeshini's opinion of him went down since he just seemed stupid every single time he spoke. Kazeshini held in a sneer as she could practically see his tongue wagging at the chance of bedding such a beautiful woman no matter that geisha weren't whores. Spending time spying on the man, Kazeshini knew that he offered plenty of money for some poorer geisha to have sex with him since some geisha couldn't support themselves because of varying circumstances.

"And may I ask for your name, my lady?" Hirotada asked while nibbling on some snacks while Kazeshini continued playing the koto.

"Nakagawa Sayuri, my lord."

"Such a pretty name. I have an offer if you would hear it, Sayuri-san."

Kazeshini gave a bow, "Of course Takemoto-dono."

"I see that you seem to be struggling financially, Sayuri-san, I am offering you money for a favor."

Kazeshini could practically see him trying to hide his erection which was obvious because he constantly shifted in his seat and certain times she could see a slight tenting in his hakama pants. Kazeshini forced herself to blush (various body reactions such as blushing had been trained until she could control such actions consciously), as though mortified that her financial standing had been found out, "I-I, I don't know-"

Hirotada interrupted her, "Just a favor, I would love to spend the night with such a beautiful woman such as yourself, and I will give you enough money so that you can continue on your way without troubles."

Kazeshini forced her blush to darken and said, "I can't accept, Takemoto-dono."

Hirotada obviously didn't like getting turned down but gave a fake smile, "I am willing to pay you ten-thousand ryo if you accept the offer, along with a gift of your choice."

With careful acting, Kazeshini showed as though she were teetering on the edge of accepting Hirotada's generous offer.

He interrupted again after seeing such obvious queues, "If you leave, I will still give you a thousand ryo, but if you stay a little longer in the morning, I will give you fifteen-thousand ryo."

Kazeshini gave a few more nervous looking facial queues while 'thinking' over his offer before nodding slowly while blushing, "I have been struggling for a while now, Takemoto-dono, I accept your generous offer."

He gave a grin hidden behind his teacup before standing up and walking over to Kazeshini, "Come Sayuri-chan, I assure you that you will enjoy tonight." He grabbed at Kazeshini's outstretched hand and carefully guided her to a room containing a large bed.

That night was boring beyond belief for Kazeshini. She had been trained in various sexual acts every night for months, that didn't include all the physical training, stealth, assassination, and acting that she had done along with practicing with her instruments, various tea ceremonies, dancing with and without various instruments such as a fan or parasol, and practicing her fuinjutsu and practicing with Issen Amimasu. Hirotada unrobed her, then finished himself off within a minute. Kazeshini was disgusted and was quite happy that she had a seal that killed everything that entered her body; such things as viruses, bacteria, and every single sperm cell which entered her body were killed and destroyed immediately. This meant that any man could unload themselves, even with the high sperm count of shinobi, and she would never get pregnant unless she allowed it and she would never get any sort of sexually transmitted disease.

Kazeshini faked looking pleasantly sexed out, 'having enjoyed herself' and waited until Hirotada was asleep before creating a clone that quickly used a normal henge to go find Lady Takemoto Fumika.

Kazeshini faked sleeping until, after hearing a whole minute of angry stomping of three sets of footsteps, 'startled' awake at the sound of the shoji doors slamming open and Fumika screeching, "I knew it! Father, here's your proof!"

Hirotada had also started away and was scrambling around trying to collect his clothes while Kazeshini acted mortified and held the sheets of the bed against her naked chest. "Who are you?!" Kazeshini squeaked out, acting shocked and surprised.

"I am this man's wife! Who are you?!"

Kazeshini gave out a squeak and forced the blood from her face, going pale, before looking at the man she had sex with. "You didn't say you were married! You used me like some common whore!" And Kazeshini burst into tears, all fake of course but none of these civilians would ever be able to detect it.

From that point, Fumika's father and his guard collected her husband to deal with him while Fumika felt sorry for the young girl crying her eyes out. "Don't cry, we'll deal with him and you'll get your justice."

Kazeshini continued crying and blubbering until the three males were well out of hearing distance, before stopping completely. Fumika was shocked that a pretty young teen could just stop crying all of the sudden. "Well, Lady Takemoto, you got your proof of your husband's infidelity. I am the Uzumaki that was sent for your mission."

Fumika was shocked while Kazeshini casually put on her furisode, uncaring that she had been naked in the first place with sticky semen drying on her inner thighs. "Well, thank you for your prompt completion of the mission. I had only sent out the letter with payment a week ago."

"Yes ma'am, and now I should be going, I have another mission in the area and need to prepare." Kazeshini gave a bow before turning to leave.

"Wait! What did my husband promise you?"

Kazeshini stopped and turned with an upraised eyebrow, "Fifteen thousand ryo if I stayed till morning and a gift of my choice."

Fumika nodded, "Take his collection, I don't want it nor need it. It sits in his rooms and there should be enough money around his room to give you a bonus for dealing with my husband so quickly."

Kazeshini gave a bow, "Thank you Takemoto-dono." Kazeshini left after that, making her way to Hirotada's private rooms. There a whole slew of ornaments, clothes, and other artifacts were sitting around cluttering a second room. Kazeshini took everything she was able, sealing it all away, before leaving the massive manor.

A/N: Don't flame… Kazeshini is stuck in a time period where women are still mostly viewed as weak and worthless in a fight, only good for staying home or using their bodies. Having lived in a futuristic time period and going to college, she has indeed had sex before and it doesn't really bother her too much. She isn't so much as selling her body, as she is using what skills and what gifts she has been afforded in this new life.

Ten thousand ryo = 1000$

Fifteen thousand ryo = 1500$

Eight points of Kazeshini's Navel Seal

1\. Lightning Full-Body Transformation

2\. Water Full-Body Transformation

3\. Fire Full-Body Transformation

4\. Wind Full-Body Transformation

5\. Bird Full-Body Transformation

A. 30 Minutes

B. 1 hour

C. 5 hours

D. 12 Hours

6\. Healing Chakra Transformation

7\. Slow Release (To fill chakra reserves when empty)

8\. Makes All Body Seals Invisible Even When in Use


	14. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

(16 Years Old)

Kazeshini quickly went to the geisha house and collected her stuff. After that, she went to a normal hotel to shower and sleep for a few hours. In the morning, Kazeshini dressed in a simple grey yukata with checkered patterns and zori sandles before leaving to find an actual whore house. Her next mark, Yakasaki Seitaro, was a wealthy man who enjoyed using the brothels in every place he went. He was wealthy enough to pay for the use of the entire brothel he visited which ensured no one could enter and he could have guards patrolling the entire building.

Quickly, Kazeshini found the only brothel in the town and used stealth to put a mild and non-lethal poison in the cups of six different girls.

She only had to wait a day, scoping out the brothel for the six girls to call in to the matron as sick and unable to work.

That was when she pounced on the opportunity.

"What can I do for you, girl?"

Kazeshini turned to an old woman, dressed conservatively but her face was covered in makeup. "I was hoping to find some work for a while."

"Do you have any experience girl?"

"Yes ma'am."

The old woman nodded, "Head to the back room, I'll check you over there."

Kazeshini gave a short bow before heading off to where she was supposed to be. Under her yukata, on the skin of her chest, was a genjutsu seal that drew up fake tattoos over her body. Her front had a massive koi fish splashing from her left hip up to where its head resting on her right breast and water decorated the skin around the fish that was then dotted with sakura blossoms. On her back, coiling its tail around her right thigh and clawing up her buttocks with hind claws all the way up to biting at her left shoulder blade was a large stripped tiger with more decorative sakura blossoms.

The matron came soon after with another girl, "Undress, I want to see."

Kazeshini nodded, knowing that this was a test to see if she was at all shy which most women and girls were if they hadn't ever worked in a brothel before, and untied the obi to let her yukata fall to the ground. Standing naked, the old woman pinched and prodded, uncaring of every time her bony fingers caused Kazeshini to wince. The girl, who seemed young so Kazeshini assumed she had been born to one of the workers, helped to pick up Kazeshini's clothes before setting them to the side after careful folding.

"Well, it seems like you're in luck, we had few girls get sick with food poisoning yesterday and we're running short on workers while an important client is visiting and plans to hire out the place. You seem prettier than most of my girls here so you will work every single night, so as long as you bring in men and their coin, you get paid along with free meals and a warm bed to sleep in. Rules of the house is no complaints, no whining, and the costumer is always right. You do as your costumer says even if he tells you to get on your knees and beg like a dog. Do you have any lines you're unwilling to cross?"

Kazeshini shook her head, "No, ma'am."

"So any sort of bondage is alright? We have a few bouncers as we don't approve of hurting or disfiguring any of the girls working here so you just need to call for help. Men come in a pay to sleep with the girls, you keep a quarter of the money along with any tips they give you. Food and lodging is already deducted by the three quarters of the fee. Any accessories including bathing supplies, make-up, hair pins, clothes, or anything else that tickles your fancy other than your first kimono comes out of your pocket. If you get pregnant, you will get the chance to either keep the babe which puts you off work until the babe is born, or you take a cup of black root tea to get rid of any growing spawn. Do you understand everything?"

Kazeshini could only nod at the old woman's long winded and grouchy speech.

The old woman turned to the girl standing at her side, "Snap to it, girl, get that silver one! Don't just stand around like a lazy bum! Do your job!"

"Yes Akoto-sama!" The small girl raced from the room and soon came back carrying a simple kimono colored a shimmering silver with dark brown tree branches crawling up from the edges peppered with little red sakura blossoms. Kazeshini suspected it had been grabbed since the sakura blossoms matched the ones that had been 'tattooed' on her skin. The girl helped fit it on, making sure that it was opened enough that Kazeshini's breasts were practically hanging out and that the cloth just covered over the fork of her legs. A red obi, more of a band than any proper sort of obi, fit around her waist to keep the kimono tied just enough so it gave a tantalizing glimpse of flesh instead being practically naked.

Her hair was combed and styled with a few pins and a comb before she was guided to a dining room area where more than a few other girls were eating. A cook in the back, another old woman who Kazeshini suspected had once been a whore but grew too old, was carefully preparing some more food and the young girl guiding Kazeshini bounced forward.

"Hey obaa-san, we got a new girl!" The young girl waved her arms in Kazeshini's directions before scooting closer and whispering, "Hey what's your name?"

Kazeshini gave a little smile to the girl but spoke up to everyone, "Ohayo, my name is Sayuri."

"Ohayo!" Many of the other girls and women called out before going back to eat and resting, preparing themselves for work which would truly pick up in a few hours.

Kazeshini walked to the cook and grabbed a bowl of rice with some fish and pickled cabbage on top. There were actual pickles as well, and Kazeshini used her chopsticks to pluck them from her bowl and place them in the bowl of her young companion.

"Do you not like pickled vegetable?" She asked almost incredulously.

"I don't like pickled cucumbers but I love pickled cabbage, just something odd."

The young girl raised a confused eyebrow, "You like pickled cabbage but not pickled cucumber, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever."

Kazeshini just shrugged and sat down at a table to enjoy her meal.

"By the way, my name is Katayama Nanao, pleasure to meet you Sayuri-san."

Kazeshini just gave a smile, not speaking as it was rude while she was eating.

Once they were finished with their meal, Nanao showed her to a room which would become Kazeshini's. It was a simple room consisting of a bed and red drapes lining the walls with candles dotting various surfaces of the room.

"This is the room which you can keep your keep your clothes and other items. You can decorate the room how you like, we have other stuff that could help decorate the room but there isn't much, just some old stuff." Nanao said while Kazeshini walked around the room a bit to inspect it.

"Thank you Nanao-chan, I think its fine as it is for now." Kazeshini set her backpack, which she had been carrying with her since arriving at the brothel, and sat on the edge of the bed. "How often does the bedding get changed?"

"It gets washed every night you work and the sheets get replaced every few months depending on how it looks." Nanao said, "I hope you get a client soon, the sooner you get your first client and the more money you earn gets you higher standing within the house. All those other girls seemed nice to you while we were eating but they're only waiting for tonight before tearing you to pieces."

Kazeshini smiled warmly, knowingly, and simply thanked the younger girl. "Yes, I could tell quite easily. I'll get ready and be out in an hour."

The young girl gave a short bow and left Kazeshini alone, closing the door behind her.

The second Nanao left, Kazeshini scowled. She hated this work. She was good at it and enjoyed such night time activities with those she trusted, however she felt that doing this sort of work for the clan was demeaning and took any sort of pleasure out of the actual physical act of sex when against a mark. After this mission, since it was truly her first mission on her own, Kazeshini would get back to the clan and Ichizo (the commander of the seduction and assassin corps) would grant her permission to have the graduating present as a member of the seduction corps. It was a suicide seal, one that when used, would use fire to completely incinerate her body into ash. The seal was disguised within any sort of flower (which Kazeshini was going to choose a white Asiatic Lily with a dark purple center) but the seal itself was disguised as the small black widow spider that hid within the depths of the flower.

Kazeshini would earn that seal when she finished this mission and successfully killed her mark, like some sort of black widow though she luckily didn't have to marry her target. However, that still didn't make her feelings on this sort of work any easier. It also didn't help that she was so good at this work because she had twenty years of memories to fall back on though they were civilian based. Those memories were made of her core beliefs, that she loved the beauty in the world and that she would do anything to survive no matter what.

Quickly, Kazeshini put on some light make-up and simplistic jewelry made from very beautiful glass beads, feathers, and some fake flowers were added to her hair. Everything else that she had carried with her was put away and carefully hidden from thieving hands of some of the other workers.

She finished primping herself and exited her room practically glowing with beauty and vitality. The madam, Akoto, could already tell that Kazeshini was going to bring in plenty of money since she wasn't of the normal garden variety of girls in the brothel. Even the prettiest worker seemed to pale when in Kazeshini's vicinity. She wore her skimpy kimono, with her breast practically falling out and her thighs constantly being showcased, as if it was a high-class outfit with long lustrous black hair that glistened in the dim lighting of the brothel.

Kazeshini smirked at the different women, all seething in anger at the stolen spotlight, and sat on a cushion in the back room waiting for the first of the costumers. Akoto came in and hustled one of the girls out, whom Kazeshini assumed would be used for those who couldn't afford more expensive sex as the other woman was quite plain but without any deficiencies. More than a few other girls were hustled out to go entertain a man for the night, when Akoto called out for Kazeshini. "Sayuri, you're up. You got two boys paying good coin for a new girl and those two boys already know all the girls here." The old woman scowled darkly.

With little effort, Kazeshini stood up and walked to the front room where her client would be waiting. There, waiting for her was some handsome noble-like fellow with whom Kazeshini assumed was his brother.

The men grinned at each other perversely, obviously, each were perverts of the highest order and they had the coin to pay for the service. Kazeshini held back a glare of disgust, hating what she would have to put up with to get some good credit within the brothel for the time her actual mark came around. If she just showed up working at the brothel at the same exact time her mark came around, then everyone would be too suspicious to let her close to do her job. It would be nice if she could just kill him but she needed info and torture was out of the option since Kazeshini wasn't to let anyone know that her mark had given away key information. She was only to show that she killed him as if in self-defense, not actual murder.

Sauntering up to her two customers, Kazeshini guided them to her room and let them undress her while they leered at her form. They guided her to the bed, enjoying the fact that they were in complete control as they gripped her breasts or dipped their fingers within her core. They licked up her neck, kissing and sucking against her pale skin, and one brother pushed her to the bed while the other began undressing.

Kazeshini smirked and spread her legs wide while leaning back a bit to show off her entire naked body. No words were spoken as the two men crawled over the bed towards her. Kazeshini then, without effort, used pressure points to heighten their pleasure so much that their eyes rolled back into their heads and they collapsed. She didn't feel like entertaining them at all, not after having to force herself to have sex with her previous mark. Sex had been a requirement since there needed to be actual evidence.

Now, she had used pressure points to cause such a heightening of pleasure that their minds had overloaded from the sensation. A result of that however was their sticky white messes coating the covers of her bed which annoyed her quite a bit. With ease, Kazeshini rolled both naked men off the bed and changed the spoiled covers before lifting the two into the bed. She slipped between both men and covered their obvious nakedness with the sheets and bedspread.

With ease, Kazeshini slipped into a half-sleep, not really sleeping but not really awake. This allowed her to stay aware of her environment and be able to react accordingly but still letting her body rest. This could be used for a week but Kazeshini knew that not actual sleeping and only staying half-asleep for six days would be the exact same as staying up for three days in a row. It was possible to function on little to no sleep when out in the field but often it made a shinobi either unwary or overly paranoid and act as they shouldn't. Going in a half-asleep approach compared to full sleep staved off the approach of sleep deprivation and allowed the body and chakra to rest and recuperate but not at the same rate as if one was actually sleeping.

The two men were out for the count for the rest of the night and Kazeshini came aware from her half-sleep state to them groaning a bit as they woke up.

"I can't even remember what happened last night, it was so amazing." Stated the older brother.

Kazeshini hid a smirk and continued to pretend to sleep. The second brother slowly responded to his now awake brother before turning to the obviously beautiful and still naked form of Kazeshini who was lying face down on the bed with one leg hooked over the younger brother's. The two brothers gave each other grins, though they were still slightly tired from such an 'active' night. Kazeshini wanted to roll her eyes in exasperation as the older brother 'stealthily' slipped between her legs, having awoken with a full morning wood that tented the sheets, and proceeded to 'wake' his bed partner with 'unexpected' sex.

Kazeshini faked a few throaty moans and clawed at the sheets while the elder brother pumped within her body. He stopped soon after, letting his younger brother have a go, while stroking himself at the sight. The younger brother had lifted Kazeshini's hips, allowing for a better and deeper angle, and Kazeshini couldn't actually help but enjoy herself when putting all thoughts of missions into the back of her mind and putting forth the mindset she had been trained to slip into.

She had multiple mindsets to protect her from her job; one was her 'mission' mindset that made sure she was thinking tactically to complete the mission, one was a more rested mindset that she used when home so she didn't jump and try killing someone for startling her, and the last was her 'seduction' mindset that allowed for her body to automatically react like it was trained to do without her thoughts interfering.

These two, while not shinobi and without the stamina of shinobi, knew what they were doing as Kazeshini suspected they had been enjoying the pleasures of the female flesh since they were teens and knew what sex was.

They each took turns until they decided to both go at her at the same time. Being as experienced and trained as she was, Kazeshini held no fright as one man positioned himself in front of her and the other behind. They pushed themselves both inside her at the same time before beginning and alternating pattern to piston in and out of her core. They were soon spent while Kazeshini had to fake an orgasm as she was used to the shinobi stamina of her teammates in the seduction corp. Spent, Kazeshini let them lie on the bed while she got up and dressed. She was putting on some lingerie when they finally got up. As they dressed, the elder brother pulled out a stack of bills from his pocket and carefully tucked them away in the cleavage of Kazeshini's breasts before stealing a kiss.

"We will totally be back, keep the tip." He said while the younger brother gave a smirk and stole his own kiss.

Once they left, Kazeshini cleaned herself up and went to the dining room to get something to eat. She hid away the money within her obi, and gave a dark smirk to the different glaring women who were slowly trickling in from their nights with customers.

A week passed, Kazeshini becoming the prized whore of the brothel since she knew so many shinobi tricks to give overloading pleasure to the men she serviced. None of them suspected she was any sort of shinobi but just knew that she was quite skilled between the sheets.

Finally, her mark came to the brothel and bought out the entire building for three days. Azuma Roka was wealthy but a big pile of lard. He was fat as can be, owned a few slaves and ordered his servants to constantly feed his growing girth. Different women of the brothel were commanded to drape themselves across him as he sat eating more food than an average civilian could afford with a month's work. At night, he had different women pleasure him and feed him while doing so. He was disgusting and Kazeshini honestly couldn't tell how he had survived so long.

He was a stain against humanity and the different girls he had pleasure him at night were very grateful and kept silent when each night Kazeshini used her pressure point technique to knock Roka out and make him think it was pleasure that did it.

By the third day, all the girls of the brothel were disgusted by the pig but kept silent in fear of what he could order his plethora of guards to do, especially since his guards had already hurt a few of the girls while having sex.

The entire time Roka was there, though he left during the day to conduct business, Kazeshini had been slipping small amounts of poison into his drink as he drank sake like water. There was no need to kill him in self-defense as Kazeshini could fake a lethal heart attack. The last night, Kazeshini used pressure points to make him spill all his dirty little secrets before giving him the final dose of poison, one that was slow acting and impossible to detect after death since it was volatile and broke down at room temperature compared to body temperature.

Kazeshini followed the fat pig as he left the brothel and town in a massive horse driven carriage until he had a sudden and fatal heart attack another six days later while on the road between towns. Kazeshini had already collected her stuff from the brothel, left behind all the money she had earned plus some extra to Nanao who Kazeshini had learned wanted to leave the brothel but couldn't afford to, and was soon making her way back to Uzu.


	15. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

(17 Years Old)

Kazeshini blinked at the man standing before her. He was a scientist of some type, one that the Uzumaki clan desperately wanted out of an enemy clan's hands. She had been in the area, only a few miles away, when this mission scroll had been given to her by a trained hawk. The scientist was supposedly the best in his field with researching both medicine and poison.

The man was a civilian, and it appears he was held captive by a clan of shinobi to make poison on the penalty of torture or death if he failed.

Once she had received the mission scroll Kazeshini had packed up her few items, killed her target in a sloppy manner, and sprinted with as much stealth as possible to the enemy clan. It had practically been a fortress, with shinobi guards keeping watch at all points to protect the compound.

She had transformed into her hybrid bird form and flew over the heads of the guards to enter in the compound without being seen or noticed at around three in the morning.

Once inside, she had been forced to crawl along the ceiling the entire time since the entire compound was filled with shinobi and civilian alike. Each man, woman, or child would have given out a cry of warning if they had spotted her infiltrating the compound.

Now, she currently stood in front of the scientist that she needed to exfiltrate from the compound, and he had a daughter.

"Well fuck."

Kazeshini swore as she hadn't been informed in the mission scroll that the scientist had a daughter with him, and the little girl was what the shinobi clan were using to threaten the scientist.

The man stood frozen in front of her, his hand clutching his daughter's shoulder before Kazeshini's words startled him to dragging the child behind him. "Who are you?"

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I am on a mission to get you and your daughter out of here and to somewhere safe." Kazeshini turned sharply as she heard footsteps enter the hallway to the scientist's secluded lab room. "I want you to act normal and let this person inside, got that?"

The scientist nodded frantically but Kazeshini knew that his nervousness would easily be picked up on, so she stood next to the door frame where the opened door would easily hide her.

A few seconds passes and the door opened with a bang, easily hiding Kazeshini from view, as a clansman came barging in. "You-"

The man didn't get the chance to finish what he was saying as Kazeshini had easily used a small knife to sever his spinal cord at the base of his neck, killing the man instantly. The man dropped dead, and Kazeshini caught him easily enough before dragging him to a closet to hide the body.

"Come, let's get you both out of here." Kazeshini said while carefully looking down the hallway, her small knife at the ready.

The scientist began running around, grabbing what looked to be a few changes of clothes and a plethora of documents before he grabbed his daughter's hand and began following Kazeshini. The little girl was silent and her face was ashen, her eyes still looking towards the closet where Kazeshini had hidden the cooling body of the man she had killed.

Kazeshini quickly ran down the short hallway, silent as a ghost, and carefully looked around the corner to spot anyone else. She saw multiple doors and a small trio of people just standing around talking. The scientist and his daughter walked forward as silently as they could, and Kazeshini couldn't help but flinch when she heard both father and daughter's feet cause the floorboards to moan.

She looked around the corner again and carefully watched as one of the men turned to investigate. Kazeshini waited with baited breath as the man stepped ever closer. The second he turned the corner, he looked shocked at the sight of Kazeshini standing there, his eyes bulged and his mouth opened to give a cry of alarm. Kazeshini pounced swiftly, cutting into his throat to silence him and keep him from screaming, and dragged him back to hide the body.

When the man hadn't come back from what he was investigating, the other two came looking as well. Kazeshini was prepared for the moment the two stepped into the small hallway, and raised two kunai to plunge deep into both men's necks. Again, she dragged the bodies into different hiding places so any shinobi or civilian alike couldn't immediately find the bodies and know something was afoot.

Multiple times, Kazeshini was forced to crawl up to the ceiling and use garroting wire to kill a few people as they patrolled the hallways or stab someone from around a corner only to drag and hide the body away.

He scientist and his daughter were practically traumatized by the end of the escape and Kazeshini could only sigh and wipe away the blood from her hands and weapons.

Once they were outside of the compound, which included a harrowing challenge to get over the walls without being seen or raising an alarm, Kazeshini could relax a bit.

However, the scientist was now relieved enough that he began asking questions. Questions that Kazeshini didn't want to talk about or answer.

"So, what do you normally do? You are wearing a nice yukata, so I don't think you normally rescue people like me from clans like that." The scientist said, referring to the fact that Kazeshini was still wearing a nice but very short yukata and wasn't dressed in the typical manner of shinobi or samurai.

Over the course of an hour, Kazeshini had gotten annoyed and fed up with the man asking her a plethora of questions. So, she finally blurted out an answer just to see if it would shut him up as his relief of getting out of a bad situation had made his tongue loose, "I am a seductress and assassin. I go out, I seduce a target, and I normally kill my target. Does that answer your question?"

The man's face paled quite a bit, seemingly matching the white of his lab coat, and he clutched at his daughter's hand a little tighter. "Oh, well then."

He was silent for a while after that, as being a seductress basically meant she was a whore while being an assassin had bad connotations all around.

After a few hours of walking, as Kazeshini hadn't felt like carrying either the scientist or the little girl while running, she suddenly turned her ear to the direction of the clan compound she had just exfiltrated from.

Even with her impeccable hearing, she wouldn't have been able to hear alarms being raised, but she could use her impeccable chakra sense to feel the rising commotion. "Damn, we need to hurry up. There's a place I know of that we can rest at for a few hours until it is safe to get going."

Kazeshini picked the little girl, swinging the child up onto her back, and began jogging just slow enough for the man to keep up. It took a few minutes, with the man huffing and puffing just behind her, to make it to a rocky canyon that Kazeshini knew would probably be the best place to hide out in until the search for the two civilians with her died down.

First, she walked down the sheer cliff face and placed the little girl in a small cave before running back up to help the scientist down as well. A few fuinjutsu tags later, and a powerful genjutsu barrier was keeping their little cave safely hidden.

Hours would pass as Kazeshini and her two charges rested, and it was nearing nightfall when Kazeshini finally spotted a group of enemy shinobi trying to pick up her trail. It wasn't more than five of them, and Kazeshini could easily tell that three of the five were only about the strength of what she imagined a genin would be. It was the other two that Kazeshini was more worried about; both were jounin level shinobi at least.

Kazeshini just decided to hunker down, created a powerful ninjutsu barrier, and watched as the canyon was combed over for her and the two civilians.

It would take her a week, luckily without having to fight off any enemy shinobi, to get back to Uzu. She had to constantly ignore the side glances from the civilian scientist the entire way, and it didn't bother her so much as annoy her.

Once back home, she handed over both mission scrolls and trudged her way to the hot springs for a nice and relaxing soak.


	16. Chapter 26-27

Chapter Twenty-Six

(18 Years Old)

Kazeshini crashed onto her futon, exhausted and practically falling apart at the seams. Even with all the conditioning she went through when she had been sixteen, she had a sharp increase in anxiety, helplessness as if she were no longer feeling in control of her life, low self-esteem and a bit of humiliation and shame. No one could know her occupation, and it felt like some sort of dirty secret that would forever mar her reputation. Luckily, after two years, she was out. She was kicked out of the seduction side of the force and now she could take more relaxing assassination missions.

Her commander had noticed her increase in agitation and her inability to relax and after a quick review, it was determined that she needed at least a break from the seduction missions. A break at the very least because she was still one of his best operatives.

She had been the best in the seduction division, having moved to more difficult missions in increasing frequency which meant she flew up the ranks within the division. She had been forced to take some extra training from the Torture and Interrogation Corps so her seduction missions to get information went a lot easier (especially since not all interrogation relied on pain and she was well versed in using pleasure as torture).

Being suspended from seduction missions for at least a few months to get her head on straight as well as being forced to take some training for the Corps, Kazeshini was given leave for two weeks to relax before taking any assassination missions.

Kazeshini was fine with this, it would allow her to create some new techniques with Issen Amimasu. Her poor sword seemed to have been neglected for a while, as she had only been able to do some routine practice and no actual missions where the weapon had been truly needed.

Her time away from the business, basically a short vacation, allowed her to learn that she had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It was simple and practically lifesaving in her job, but it was annoying when she had discovered it. She had a constant compulsion to check on her gear and lean everything that belonged to her. She would check and see her gear at all spare times. All Kazeshini's gear had to be placed just perfectly where it belonged and it would constantly annoy her if it wasn't done properly. She hated premade packs of anything since she was compelled to fix it to her liking or else it bugged her and started making her anxious.

Along with having all her gear in tip top shape and where it was supposed to be, she had a compulsion to tap her fingers against her thigh when anxious. Any time she began feeling anxiety, which wasn't very frequent during missions since her personal emotions were shunted to the back of her mind, she tapped her thigh. Kazeshini had noticed that the more time she spent around stupid civilians or the like, the more anxious she got and the more she began tapping her fingers.

Other than those minor things, which could bug her, she was enjoying her break.

Kazeshini curled up against her stuffed tiger, a new one she had created and it was so large that it was literally twice the size of her body and practically the size of the futon. The tiger was just one in her massive collection of stuffed tigers, including Albino Tigger her first stuffed tiger. She snuffled a bit, squirming among her piles of stuffed animals, and practically buried herself among the fluff.

She was dressed in a yukata top and simple silk draw-string pants which were comfortable especially in the slight heat. Nothing was going to bother her while she lay comfortable in her pile of stuffed animals on her futon, and she continued squirming trying to get just a little bit more comfortable.

A few fake tiger claws dug into her side and Kazeshini huffed before wiggling around a bit more to dislodge the uncomfortable claws.

Outside of her room, Kazeshini could easily sense her parents watching her with what had to be some sort of funny face as they could only see a quivering, moving pile of stuffed animals. Kazeshini huffed, ignoring them, and used a chakra chain to scoop up any stuffed tigers that had fallen off the futon back over her to completely cover her.

A waste of chakra, though not much since it was just a chakra construct, and Kazeshini sighed in content. She was finally perfectly comfortable.

Not moving an inch, Kazeshini tensed up every single muscle in her body before unclenching and releasing all her stress as well. She closed her eyes and slipped off into an easy meditation, relaxing but not yet quite ready to fall asleep.

She had been stressed as she crawled into her futon, but she was relaxing. She wasn't deluding herself to the fact that she was still falling apart, but that could wait a bit until she gained more equilibrium in her sense of self.

Meditation smoothed out all the spikes in her chakra, and she could watch her core with her mind's eye swirl agitatedly before beginning to smooth and calm. Kazeshini watched, and helped, her chakra smooth and even out which took a lot of her stress out of her. Spiking chakra set the body to react and tense up so smoothing and relaxing her chakra helped release the stress and tension in her body.

An hour later, Kazeshini felt her chakra was once more calm and tranquil within her body, so she went outside of it. Her mind trailed through her body before she focused more on the outside.

Nature chakra, no matter how chaotic and dangerous, was natural and sedative. It was why she figured that turning into stone wasn't recognized by the user and dealt with, it calmed you down so much that you didn't notice it taking over your body and turning you to stone. Kazeshini could also infer that bijuu chakra was blistering and acidic but when purified would be much like natural chakra while also being augmenting even further upon the bolstering effect of the chakra. She equated normal chakra in this sense to a juice beverage, natural chakra to caffeinated but soothing tea, and purified bijuu chakra to some sort of condensed energy drink in the form of a bubbly drink.

Kazeshini, with all the experience feeling natural chakra because of her navel seal, could now collect it naturally. The seal was now a shortcut to using the energy without having to sit still to collect the chakra. She had used the natural chakra so many times that she was experienced in feeling it, plus it didn't hurt that she had a backup seal that helped to shock her system should her body become overwhelmed with nature chakra and start turning to stone.

Nature chakra flowed through her, entering her body, swirling around every single cell inside her, and leaving just as it arrived. She was one with nature, she did not exist, she held emotions but she was at peace, there was no chaos but instead there was harmony. Kazeshini was calm, embracing nature and all its perfections and imperfection, and then she came back to herself.

Her body was practically rubber it was so relaxed.

Kazeshini sighed in content, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep. She didn't feel like reminiscing on any of her missions that she had done, nor did she think of the training she would have to do.

She simply drifted off into a simple dreamless sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

(18 Years Old)

"Shit!" Kazeshini cried, her hands burned as she had forced too much chakra through them.

She was practicing with Issen Amimasu, the sword was difficult with any new techniques. It acted like some sort of unwieldy lump of unshaped metal than an actual sentient sword whenever Kazeshini tried creating a new technique. The sword was belligerent and cantankerous during any practice but it was only after Kazeshini finally created a technique that it complied with the use of the new technique.

Kazeshini had also discovered that the damn sword got jealous if she used any other sort of nodachi, o-katana, katana, or odachi. It barely liked the tanto Kazeshini had, but the blade seemed to grudgingly agree that it was too large to use when indoors. The sword was picky and fickle, and half the time Kazeshini felt like actually yelling at it.

Kazeshini sighed and brought the sword in front of her body again. She was dressed in full hakama, simple grey pants with a blue top. Her hair was tied in a tail high on her head and her bangs were kept out of her face by a bandana.

Smoothly, her chakra slipped into the blade and she swung it a few times as practice before holding the nodachi in a one-handed grip. "Karasu Kari! (Crow Hunt!)" With a quick application of chakra and a fast-paced piercing technique, Kazeshini impaled and slashed a training log a dozen times.

The backlash of the technique had her pushed back by the sheer power behind the strength of her attack.

Kazeshini panted as she watched the smoke clear from the now destroyed log and smirked, finally having finished the technique.

With a quick hand sign, Kazeshini called forth a few clones who then spread out to throw kunai.

She stood silently, prepared, and waited for them to attack.

With bare twitches, her clones threw a few dozen kunai at her and Kazeshini brought her sword up in preparation. "Karasu Kari!" Kazeshini called out again as she began the technique.

Fast, swift slashes and pierces, fast enough that even she couldn't see her own blade, and she had literally cut every single kunai in half so that the metal aimed at her completely missed.

The clones dispelled and Kazeshini gave a smirk, and finally gripped Issen Amimasu with both hands before sheathing it.

She entered a quick draw stance, Iaido, and released her sword with a burst of chakra.

A wave of chakra was released, cutting and destroying a line of training posts.

Kazeshini let out a breath of half exhaustion, having been practicing for a few hours already. She resheathed the sword and set it carefully over her shoulder in a special cloth cradle she had created so it wouldn't have to always be carried on her shoulder or in a seal. The cloth cradle made it so that the sword was almost parallel to the ground at the small of her back. It would allow for her to grip the handle and sheath for a quick draw if needed but it helped keep the sword out of the way of her arms, though she had to be conscious of how far the blade stuck out at her sides when she walked.

Kazeshini stretched a bit and began walking to headquarters.

Her break was soon over and Kazeshini was going to see if they would release her early for some sort of mission. Kazeshini had already promised to herself that it would be a long time before she took any seduction missions, but she would instead focus on other types of missions.

She needed to focus on her goals, to live long enough to change the fate of her clan and the fate of this world. It had been years since she worked on anything much, but Kazeshini already had an idea to live a long and practically immortal life. She wouldn't go for multiple hearts or devote herself to the god Jashin, but instead would be focusing on all that inner energy that occurred naturally within the body… chakra.

Chakra was her ticket to immortality, at least temporarily as she didn't actually want to live forever.

Kazeshini had a massive seal she was drawing out. A seal that was connected with glue by a dozen of those massive three feet wide and dozens of feet long scrolls. The paper ended up being 36 feet wide and 120 feet long. She had started out with the normal Uzumaki sealing swirl to help stabilize the entire seal, but had expanded far, far beyond that.

Her seal, when condensed, would cover her back. It would still be so large that it would have sealing symbols crawling up and around the back of her neck like some sort of collar, symbols reaching around to her breasts and covering the sides of her ribs, coils of symbols reaching around her hips from her back and covering the bones of her hips to sneak upon the dip of her pelvis, and tendrils of symbols peppering all the way to her buttocks and even down to her thighs.

The whole point of the seal was to use chakra automatically with a set purpose in her body. She had studied all available documents on the bijuu and they were chakra constructs that also interacted on the physical plane. The seal was made to act much like the bijuu. It would siphon chakra to all areas of her body and replace old or destroyed cells with chakra constructs that would act exactly like flesh would.

The seal would take years to finish its task. There were over 700 trillion cells in the body and Kazeshini needed to convert every single one of them into chakra so slowly that the cells never converted back into flesh. It would take years because not only would the chakra construct (that would be completely dependent upon the seal) need to do every single task normally done by the cells, but it would have to allow her to interact with the physical plane like she normally did in a flesh and blood body.

Kazeshini had found out through some experimentation, that whenever she used the element transformation seals, her senses were normally muted. She couldn't see but instead she sensed with chakra. She had realized that when she couldn't see colors though she 'saw' things anyway. Taste was destroyed when transformed, hearing was vibrations so that hadn't been muted, her voice had been gone as the transformations weren't able to create fine-tuned organs that helped to speak, and her sense of touch had been destroyed as well since there were no nerves to send signals. In her transformed state, she could literally feel no pain, taste nothing, smell nothing, speak nothing, and she couldn't see colors.

With the massive seal, she would slowly conform her cells to chakra but the chakra would be doing the exact same job as the actual flesh cells. She would even be able to donate blood if needed since the blood cells would be indiscernible to actual flesh cells save that they didn't age like actual cells. Everything would work as it was supposed to, the chakra cells would multiply through mitosis when needed, but the chakra cells wouldn't age and decay over time.

The massive size of the seal was needed to be able to keep her body running like it should even though it would be made of chakra. The size of the seal was also mainly to let the seal have an imprint of what her body would normally be like, how each cell should act, and the seal would create a template and map of every single cell in her body so the seal would have a model to fall back on every time she was injured.

She wasn't yet finished with the seal; it would take months to complete since she daren't make a mistake so she had to constantly check and recheck. She also wasn't finished with the seal; she was constantly having to tweak different aspects of it and often found she had to completely rewrite a certain sequence of seals.

Kazeshini sighed and made her way through the entrance of the assassination and seduction headquarters. It was a simple building with a front desk manned by an old woman dressed impeccably in a kimono. The actual entrance was in a hidden door right behind where the old woman sat on her little stool. Kazeshini entered in the chakra sequence and entered the stairwell when the hidden door opened, having been disguised by seals.

She slipped down into the main room, where a few others were lounging around, and Kazeshini gave them each little nods of respect.

"What are you doing here? You have time off!" Ichizo growled out as he was doing paperwork at his desk.

"Yes sir, but I've only got three days left of break and wish to take a mission."

Ichizo growled and pawed through his mission scrolls before handing Kazeshini one, "An assassination mission, no seduction. You've been kicked off that section for a while so don't dare even beg for any."

Kazeshini bowed, not daring to argue that she didn't even want any of those types of missions. She took the scroll and headed to her locker where she had stored her armor. No need to even change into it, instead she only grabbed a scroll labeled with 'Assassination' before heading to the hot springs located in the village.

She stepped out of headquarters and made her way slowly to the communal bathing house, sitting directly on top of some natural hot springs.

Kazeshini bathed quickly, washing her body, before she slipped into the heated waters of the hot springs. A few other young kunoichi were giggling and having fun chatting and gossiping. Kazeshini could see the flower and spider of a seduction corps graduate on the hip of one of the girls and Kazeshini couldn't help but frown.

She placed a folded cloth, damp and cold, over her head and sunk nearly completely underwater. She halfway hated the warring clans era. Everyone fought from the young kids to full adults, constantly fighting and trying to survive while bettering the clan. Kazeshini could only hope for when the Senju and Uchiha formed Konoha. She suspected it wouldn't be long before she heard of Madara and Hashirama as there had been news of the fighting between the two clans escalating. It seemed nowadays that you couldn't have one clan nearby without seeing the other.

Kazeshini suspected that Madara and Hashirama would be around soon, though Kazeshini wasn't entirely sure when that would be. Luckily, she had seen the Uzumaki clan head's wife with a full and pregnant belly. Kazeshini could only pray that the baby would be Uzumaki Mito or else Kazeshini suspected she would be around for even longer before she came to any sort of timeline that she recognized.

She couldn't wait for the hidden villages to come around because she lived in a period of constant war. She was counterintelligence and an assassin for her clan, using her bed skills to seduce the information out of her targets or she was an assassin against the enemies of the clan. There was no way not to help the clan any way she could, be that as a seduction specialist or assassin, because every single clan member was forced to do their part lest their clan be wounded by outside attacks.

Kazeshini finished relaxing and left the hot springs, unsealing a simple change of clothes from a seal located on her wrist. She walked home casually, changed into her mission gear to help disguise herself and that meant she left behind her armor and Issen Amimasu was put in its seal.

Running to the docks, Kazeshini simply jumped out onto the waters and began the long run to the mainland. On the way, she would read the mission scroll, but for now, Kazeshini just relaxed and enjoyed the wind in her face and the howling of the whirlpools.

She would think of some more techniques to try later. Kazeshini was also thinking of weaponizing Issen Amimasu's sheath so she could use two-sword techniques, but Kazeshini just relaxed a bit before she had to put herself in her mission mindset.


	17. Chapter 28-29

Chapter Twenty-Eight

(18 Years Old)

Kazeshini fidgeted a bit, dressed up all nice and fancy as she stood next to her mother. They had been invited to see the clan head's new daughter.

Kazeshini was praying silently, fingers crossed that the little babe was named Mito and she wouldn't be some other Uzumaki princess. She hoped silently that this little newborn was Mito which would put Kazeshini only a few decades before the creation of the hidden villages.

By that point, Kazeshini would have already been well on her way to immortality but she hadn't wanted to hang around the world for a couple hundred years. Eternity seemed quite terrifying which was why she had purposely created a way to be able to turn off the immortality seal when she no longer wanted nor needed it.

Ukitake was dressed in his finest armor, standing behind the clan head with a trio of other guards, and the clan head came out holding his little daughter in his arms. The man was smiling down at his newborn daughter, not scowling like he normally did.

Kazeshini couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as practically all the other women began cooing over the small infant. There wasn't much of a maternal bone in Kazeshini's body, though she someday hoped for kids but not anywhere in the near future, and Kazeshini couldn't understand how all these other women thought that the tiny machine that pooped, cried, and slept was in anyway cute.

Remembering back when she was a babe herself, Kazeshini couldn't help but shudder at the horrible mental scarring from when she couldn't help soiling herself. Kazeshini then couldn't help the sting of jealousy that everyone around her couldn't remember their infant days.

The babe was sleeping, wrapped like some sort of burrito in a pink blanket and Kazeshini did admit it was kind of cute, but not worth cooing and making weird baby faces.

"Let me introduce you to the newest Uzumaki Princess, Uzumaki Mito."

Kazeshini gave a sigh of relief, thankful that she knew where she was generally in the time-line. She suspected now that Madara and Hashirama were probably already born but still most likely in diapers or just starting their training.

Everyone passed by the clan head, passing along gifts to the new father and his daughter, and Kazeshini stepped forward as well.

She passed along a trio of paintings. One was of butterflies, one of the whirlpool waves, and one of fairies which symbolized Mito's name of "fairy tale" or "mythology." Kazeshini had a backup scroll with a painting of birds should the baby not have turned out to be Mito. Then, to the clan head, Kazeshini gave him a sealing scroll containing one of her own blades she had created. It was a set of blades with both the katana and the tanto that Kazeshini had carefully forged with chakra conductive metal and titanium.

Once they all left, Kazeshini was giddy with excitement and half shock. She was so relieved that the little baby had been Mito that Kazeshini was acting like a giddy little school girl.

Kikyou couldn't help but look at her daughter oddly, especially since Kazeshini was acting so weirdly, but smiled and ignored her daughter's odd behavior.

Kazeshini skipped a little as they both walked home. Once she was safe within her room, Kazeshini could barely activate her privacy seals before she was jumping and screaming in excitement.

She had been waiting for some sign of the timeline in Naruto for years, and she had turned eighteen months ago. Eighteen years was a long time to know about the Naruto timeline but not be able to even know how long she would have to wait. It helped that her immortality seal was completed though a dozen clones were still going over every single inch to make sure there were no mistakes.

There would be over a hundred years before the real timeline began, when the kyuubi would be released from the next Uzumaki princess, Kushina, and sealed within Naruto.

Kazeshini slowly calmed down, flopping down on her stuffed tigers, and felt all this nervous tension leave he shoulders. Tension that she hadn't even realized that she had been carrying. Truly, it was a huge relief to know where she stood among the plot and timeline so she knew what she could do and would be able to change if she so chose to do so.

Calmed down, Kazeshini stood up and changed from her formal kimono in her practice hakama before grabbing Issen Amimasu. The sword seemed to pick up her giddy attitude and was releasing its own excitement as Kazeshini took the blade outside to start some practice.

Kazeshini created a trio of clones and had them begin practicing with against her.

The first clone attacked with a slash and Kazeshini deflected easily with her blade before deflecting another clone's attack with the sheath of her blade. She was practicing the double sword style, but with the sheath as the second sword since Issen Amimasu would get jealous if she dared use another blade in tandem with it.

Another clone attacked with a stab and Kazeshini brought her scabbard forward to sheathe the other blade. It was done expertly as Kazeshini trapped the clone's blade within her scabbard which prevented the clone from taking back the blade. Kazeshini had modified Issen Amimasu's scabbard so that it would be able to sheath attacker's swords in the middle of a fight with a lock so the blade wouldn't be taken back out without her wanting it.

Kazeshini swung her blade at another clone, which was blocked, and blocked another clone's attack with the scabbard. The swordless clone began attacking by flinging braces of kunai.

"Karasu Kari!" Kazeshini yelled out, activating her chakra along her blade, and slashed through every single kunai to deflect and cut each blade in half.

Kazeshini then used her thumb to unlock the blade from inside her scabbard and swung the scabbard so the blade flew like a high-velocity missile at one of the attacking clones. Kazeshini smirked as one of the clones was then dispelled as she swung her sword and scabbard in tandem to block a strike and attack at the same time.

With two clones left, Kazeshini attacked quickly, not losing momentum. She swung the blade and blocked with the scabbard, cutting and slashing until both clones dispelled.

Kazeshini turned to a training post and gave a guttural cry as she slashed forward with Issen Amimasu to create a massive furrow in the ground which destroyed the training post to pieces.

"I should totally name that Getsuga Tensho, would totally be awesome." Kazeshini smirked as she saw the massive cut in the earth from her single slash that tore the training field to pieces along with the training posts.

Sheathing her blade, Kazeshini used a quick earth jutsu to fill in the scarred earth. The jutsu didn't need any sort of earth chakra training like most jutsus, but it would work much easier and with less of a chakra cost to use it if she did earth chakra training. Kazeshini just didn't feel like that because she felt there was no need since she didn't use earth jutsus while fighting. She only used lightning and water jutsus, and then that was more nature manipulations than traditional jutsu.

Kazeshini sighed happily as she watched a handful of clones work on cleaning out the forge which was still covered in soot from when Kazeshini had made the clan head's new swords.

Kazeshini turned back to her room, which faced the back yard which doubled as her training yard, and set Issen Amimasu down to begin giving the blade a thorough cleaning and polishing.

The blade practically hummed and puffed up with pride, though it couldn't puff up, as it soon began gleaming with a mirror like shine.

Relaxed, Kazeshini smirked and couldn't wait for the future in which she would help change her world for the better, especially as she didn't dare want the horrors of war to come around again. Especially since she already lived in a never-ending war that was the warring clan era.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

(18 Years Old)

It was nice doing some normal missions again.

Kazeshini had been forced to go on so many assassination missions recently, because the clan wars seemed to have picked up a bit harsher than before, that Kazeshini felt as though she couldn't wash the blood off her hands. The contracts coming into the clan were higher than ever and the clan head wanted dozens of people dead so as not to be a threat to the clan.

Currently, Kazeshini was out in samurai country, or what Kazeshini assumed would be Iron Country soon from the rough maps she had drawn as a child. She had a commission lined up for her by the Uzumaki clan head to gift a series of weapons to a shinobi clan located in the snow-covered mountains, and Kazeshini had truly been shocked that her work was great enough to be spread to more than just the Uzumaki clan.

Truthfully, Kazeshini suspected that her clan head had been forced to fight, as he was one of the strongest nin in Uzu, and he had used the weapons she had gifted him. He must have liked the weapon so much that he thought it would help with the treaty being propositioned to the other shinobi clan.

It helped that all her various weapons she had created trying practice for the creation of Issen Amimasu had been sold since they were all good blades no matter what type of weapon she created. It also helped that she could produce five times the amount of weaponry as compared to a civilian blacksmith because she was able to use chakra to supplement herself throughout the process of weapons creation.

Kazeshini felt a shiver rack through her entire body as she continued running on top of the snow. She couldn't help but smirk at the two other Uzumaki shinobi, two men that usually guarded the clan head but were escorting her because of the high classification of the mission. Those two were having to trudge through the snow, going slowly since the snow was up to their knees and sometimes up to the waist. Kazeshini felt truly lucky that she had been on a mission to a snow-covered country for a mission and had been able to spy on a few shinobi to learn how to walk on snow.

It helped that she could regulate her chakra quite easily and had chakra control great enough to use most genjutsu or iryojutsu, which most of the Uzumaki clan couldn't even fathom using because of their massive chakra pools.

Kazeshini continued jogging forward, since she couldn't go too fast with her escort trudging through the snow, when Kazeshini came to an abrupt halt.

Tensing up, Kazeshini grabbed Issen Amimasu who had been resting against her shoulder and held the weapon against her hip in a fast draw position.

"How many do you sense?" One of her escorts asked, both having already tensed up and prepared to fight.

Kazeshini peered closely around her at the silent snow covered forest, "Five at five-hundred meters directly in front of us. I suspect they were farther out as scouts and already called for backup."

They only had to wait a little more than a minute for the other group to show up and Kazeshini could scarcely hold back the shock at seeing such shocking, gravity defying, silver hair. Each one, two men and a woman, had silver hair and were all over six feet. Kazeshini felt slightly small since she only just topped out at five foot seven compared to the other woman who had to be six foot three. Kazeshini did feel bad though for the other woman since her silver tresses seemed to want to defy gravity but was too heavy and therefore was super spiky even when pulled back in a ponytail.

"You are entering the Hatake Clan grounds, trespassers. State your business or prepare to be cut down." The leader of the group stated calmly, though he had his hands on a tanto that just stuck over one broad shoulder.

Kazeshini slowly and carefully pulled out a scroll to unwind it. With care, Kazeshini showed the mission and treaty scroll to the other shinobi, the leader of who came forward a bit to read the scroll. The Hatake relaxed minutely which had Kazeshini relaxing her tensed muscles in response, knowing she was no longer threatened to fight.

Not only would this mission going to help create a stronger alliance between the Hatake and Uzumaki clans, it would act as a sort of vacation for Kazeshini.

"You will be escorted through the Hatake grounds and given accommodations, please follow." The lead Hatake stated simply before turning around and running off while on top of the snow.

The other two Hatake nin surround Kazeshini and her two escorts as they made their way slowly towards the hidden clan.

It took a half hour to finally get to the clan buildings and Kazeshini could barely hold in a giggle at seeing over a dozen shinobi and kunoichi with spiky, gravity defying silver hair. The clan buildings were traditional with sloping roofs and rice paper walls protected with bamboo.

Kazeshini and her two escorts were shown to a trio of guest rooms in guest building where they could freshen up before being shown to the Hatake leader. Hatake Takeshi was dressed quite properly like a samurai swordsman but with pieces that Kazeshini knew would be easier to move in as a shinobi than a true samurai.

"You are here as part of the treaty that will be signed between the Hatake's and the Uzumaki."

Kazeshini gave a bow as was proper before sitting down, dressed in her best clothes as she had cleaned herself up and changed to look presentable. She was dressed in a heavy dark blue furisode with a red flower pattern marked from the hems. The clan symbol, a lavender swirl, was stitched onto each shoulder and just under the center of the collar of the furisode. The sleeves were slit at the shoulders so that creamy white fabric of a different layer was shown while the sleeves hung lower than normal to help hide Kazeshini's scarred fingers and hands. Her hair was put up nicely with hair pins, a large golden decorative hair comb carved with flower patterns that matched the furisode and a matching double sided pin.

Looking presentable was half the battle when dealing with many clans be them shinobi, samurai or civilian.

"We thank you for your time and for this opportunity you have presented for us." Kazeshini said politely.

The Hatake head gave a small polite bow, not as low as Kazeshini as was proper for the head of the clan lest it be portrayed that he thought of Kazeshini as an equal.

"I am here, Hatake-sama, to gift the Hatake clan with a series of weapons created for the whole purpose as to support the treaty and show good will to the Hatake clan." Kazeshini stated politely before pulling a scroll from her obi and setting it before the Hatake head.

Takeshi opened the scroll and activated the storage seals so a dozen different weapons appeared into existence with small bursts of chakra smoke. Each storage seal held a different weapon and the scroll had exactly two dozen storage seals.

With an impressively blank face, Takeshi held one weapon up for inspection before giving a gracious nod. "These are all impressively made, they will be put to fine use. Give my thanks to the creator of these fine blades."

Kazeshini gave a bow, "Thank you for your appreciation of the work I put into creating these weapons for your clan."

Takeshi appraised Kazeshini more closely, being quite amazed that Kazeshini could create the high-class weapons. Weapons that Kazeshini had created with a conglomeration of techniques she knew from her previous life.

"Take this scroll back to your clan with the answer of our alliance. The compound will be open to you for as long as you need before you leave." Takeshi stated before resealing the weapons in the scroll and standing up to leave.

Kazeshini stood up from where she had been sitting and gave a bow before leaving the room.

Back in her private guest room, Kazeshini unsealed her koto and began playing the thirteen-stringed instrument. It would be a waste of time to change out of her nice clothes if she was called to eat with the Hatake clan head, so Kazeshini just sat behind the koto and began playing. It was a good way to pass the time as well as practice her music skills which had gone to the wayside in the wake of all the recent assassination missions.

Truthfully, Kazeshini was bored out of her mind.

It seemed that lately all her missions were blurring together and that she was stuck until something happened. She didn't know what that something would be, but she suspected that something would be when she left the clan.

To live long enough to protect her clan and be able to meet Naruto, which was the major goal she had just for living in the Naruto world, she would need to leave the clan. Kazeshini didn't want hunters after her, saying she was a traitor to the clan for leaving like some sort of missing nin, but Kazeshini would still need to leave. So, Kazeshini had decided to fake her death. It would be something like fighting against some sort of powerful nin and she needed to make sure her 'body' wasn't recoverable by any means.

She didn't know when she would fake her death, Kazeshini just knew it would happen. She knew it would happen at the first opportunity she was given. However, it would have to be believable, which would be very hard.

One scenario that was out would have been to be snuck up upon and killed, but being in the assassination division meant they trained the sensed and chakra detection so no one could sneak up on her. She wouldn't be able to be detected since again, the assassination division had made it so where it was practically impossible to be detected, and she was recognized as good enough to even be able to sneak up on her teachers and instructors.

It would have to be on some regular mission, which weren't handed out very often to her since she was so good at assassination missions. She would need to get just the right regular mission, probably some sort of protection detail that would get ambushed by a powerful group of enemy shinobi.

Kazeshini sighed, trying to rein in her horrible mood which made her music dark and dreary. It sucked to be such a powerful kunoichi who hadn't hidden many of her skills, this meant that all her higher-ups knew of her strengths. Strengths such as high stealth, high detections skills, high assassination skills, high chakra manipulation be it with the chakra chains or chakra nature, and high sword skills.

There were still hundreds of shinobi around the continent that could probably wipe the floor with her, making her seem as helpless as a babe in the face of tiger, however she knew she was gaining power to survive.

Power which would help her survive for as long as she needed.

Kazeshini truthfully wanted to be strong enough to destroy a mountain with a swing of her blade without some sort of chakra technique, just pure strength. She wanted to create an ocean from the simplest of water techniques and not feel drained. She wanted to smash through the dimensions like Kaguya to destroy entire landscapes. Kazeshini wanted to be as strong as all the main characters in any book, movie, manga, or anime she had read or watched so she could protect what was important to her.

That strength that she was aiming for was still so far away that she couldn't even see it. Even now, with just the strength in her body and without any technique, Kazeshini could level exactly three trees. She couldn't level a forest, she couldn't cut a rock without a technique, she couldn't create a lake without losing half her chakra, and she had yet to find a way to get to different dimensions like kamui did with ease.

Maybe she was putting herself down, but Kazeshini categorized herself as a jounin. A jounin who would barely last a few minutes against a kage but might stand a chance of surviving against someone from the Sannin or one of the Akatsuki members.

Kazeshini relaxed her shoulders and stopped plucking at the strings of her instrument.

Stress seemed to drag at her, clawing at her shoulders and creating a stress headache that Kazeshini had noticed beginning to pound at her temples.

"I need a vacation." Kazeshini sighed. Getting a treaty from the Hatake clan was easy, all she acted as was the messenger and gift giver. However, she wasn't really able to relax, she wanted to relax somewhere on a beach with an ice-cold drink in hand and a masseuse digging through the knots that Kazeshini was one hundred percent sure mapped all along the muscles of her entire body.

Vacation time was given less and less for those that the clan head deemed competent. He needed good shinobi and kunoichi to do jobs that those of lesser skill wouldn't be able to accomplish without a larger team. This would have less free nin to do other needed jobs which held up the entire process of missions.

Vacation time became a long forgotten dream for those with competence, and the only vacation the good ninja got were when they were injured or when their psych evaluation came back too unstable for comfort.

Kazeshini was one of those that were in high demand to do more complicated or dangerous missions. Though she wasn't any sort of front line kunoichi so she didn't have as much strength as most of the other high class shinobi, she had speed and stealth enough to make sure she was in high appeal for dangerous missions such as her common assassination missions.

Her mission history consisted about at three times the amount of assassination missions as any other mission type she had taken in her entire career. She had over three hundred assassinations to her name, not including the underlings she killed on those assignments. Nearly seventy seduction missions, which a good half of the missions didn't include actual sex with whoever the target included. Finally, she had over a hundred regular missions that she had taken with her first team which included the various escort, tracking, protection, sabotage, stealing, and courier missions.

At only eighteen, Kazeshini felt like an old woman who had seen too much in her lifetime. Sometimes, Kazeshini awoke in a cold sweat seeing nothing but blood that couldn't be washed off no matter how much water she ran over her hands.

Kazeshini felt anxiety creep up on her and she finally noticed she was unconsciously tapping at her thigh in a nervous pattern.

Kazeshini let out a breath and tried calming herself down from what felt like the beginnings of some sort of shinobi safe panic attack, which was a panic attack that just had adrenaline rushing through the blood and all senses so in overdrive that she would throw a weapon at anything that moved but she would begin hyperventilating which could cause a blackout if not caught in time. Kazeshini entered a meditative state of mind and focused carefully on plucking the strings of the koto sitting right in front of her.

Focusing her entire being on playing, Kazeshini lost herself to the music and didn't dare thinking of the state of her being.

She felt like her psyche was beginning to crack at the edges, only held together by the first two decades of her previous life. Kazeshini now knew intimately what stress could do to anyone, and Kazeshini had been confronted with a series of panic attacks. The first one had hit like a sledgehammer, and she hadn't understood what was going on until she had calmed down over a day later after having blacked out from hyperventilating.

Her panic attacks also had nothing on the tunnel vision she sometimes experienced after particularly grueling assassination missions. One such mission had been where she had killed an entire civilian clan from the elders to the new born baby because they were starting to delve too deep in shinobi matters, matters which they didn't quite grasp and it deemed them a threat to the safety of the Uzumaki. She had killed every single member of that clan, at least fifty members, and had struggled with tunnel vision. Tunnel vision in which she couldn't quite recognize friend from foe and had nearly attacked a fellow Uzu shinobi.

That incident had brought her up for psychiatric evaluation that she had passed by the skin of her teeth. Even when passing the evaluation, she was forced through a few therapist sessions that really helped her to get her head on straight.

Kazeshini focused resolutely on playing her koto until she was once again calmed and her chakra was much less agitated than it had been before.

With a calming breath, Kazeshini played until she was invited to eat dinner with the clan head. At dinner, Kazeshini was as polite and respectful as if she had been born a noble with etiquette to match. She had a polite conversation with the Hatake head as well as various other important figures that had been invited to dine for such an important event which was the acceptance of the Uzumaki-Hatake alliance.

That night, Kazeshini lay down and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Her gear was already set out ready for her and her escorts to head home to Uzu as soon as dawn arrived.


	18. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

(19 Years Old)

Kazeshini scowled darkly at the enemy shinobi. In her right hand was Issen Amimasu, and in her left, was the sheath. She was covered in blood and gore, having been fighting a battle for a while now.

She had been on a training mission, not for herself, but to watch over three trainees.

Kazeshini was considered good enough to watch over a team of trainees on their first true assassination missions. However, the stupid teens had tripped up an alarm and the entire shinobi compound was out for blood.

The enemy shinobi were some regular type of clan, one that didn't have any sort of important bloodline but were successful enough to thrive in the warring clan's era. They were a bloodthirsty clan, half of the shinobi lost in some sort of blood haze.

One of the three trainees had died immediately, having died from the trap she had activated which also tripped an alarm. Kazeshini hadn't been able to rescue the trainee, having been watching from afar to act with a hands-off attitude. The other two had been forced to abandon the mission and flee.

With a quick response, Kazeshini had leapt after the two fleeing trainees and rescued one from impalement from an enemy shinobi. The two hadn't known she was around, having only been told they were taking a mission, it was the prerogative of the commander that had Kazeshini watching over the team.

It was supposed to be an easy mission, though with dangerous repercussions if caught. However, the risks of getting caught had been deemed too minimal, and so the mission had been assigned to a team of trainees who were almost on the cusp of graduating to be full members of the assassination corps. The clan from which the target came from were horrible sensors but very good berserkers. This meant that it would be tough to catch an assassin let alone a team of assassins watching each other's backs.

It was the one trainee who grew careless, no longer being watchful or vigilant, because she had thought the mission too easy or safe. She had hit a trap and her carelessness had cost her, her life.

Kazeshini blocked and deflected a sword strike from one of her combatants, allowing time for the two trainees to regroup a ways behind her. She was protecting their sorry butts as neither seemed to have any sort of true combat skill, having conscripted into the assassination corps because of their smaller than average (for an Uzumaki) chakra pool and their excellent stealth.

With a loud clank of metal against wood, Kazeshini blocked a kunai that had been thrown at her with the scabbard in her left hand. With a swing of Issen Amimasu, Kazeshini carved a trench into the ground that split a man in two from shoulder to crotch. Again, Kazeshini blocked an attack and gave her own retaliation with a swing from her blade which killed with every strike.

This would have been relatively easier on her part, if Kazeshini wasn't forced to protect her fellow Uzumaki's. Kazeshini sighed and charged a chakra attack before releasing it at the enemy. They had swarmed enough that a few were unable to dodge and so were literally cut off at the knees.

Kazeshini couldn't help but show a self-depreciating smirk as she blocked another attack and used her adamantine sealing chains, with the modified spear head, to block and stab those near her. It was difficult to multitask, using a dozen chains as well as Issen Amimasu, but Kazeshini prevailed relatively well until one of the monsters of the clan wars jumped onto the field.

With an earth-shattering jump and an ear-splitting crack of earth and stone, a shinobi had jumped onto the playing field with what looked to be arms encased in spiked stone.

"Shit." Kazeshini jumped back after releasing one last technique that killed another two enemy combatants, spraying blood all over. The blood didn't much effect Kazeshini since she was already covered in the liquid from the other shinobi she had killed. Kazeshini made two quick clones which grabbed the two Uzumaki trainees before using as specially created technique to get away as quick as possible, literally by teleporting.

The technique Kazeshini had used was something she had based off what she thought the Hirashin would be, but Kazeshini currently couldn't use it in battle as it was too difficult to use and concentrate on while battling. She had to use her entire concentration to teleport to a seal, and even thinking about something else in the process would null the technique. It also didn't help that the seal was currently too large and she hadn't found a good way to condense it down, especially as it was currently at the bottom of her list of priorities.

"So, you dare to come to our clan, and try and kill our people?" The enemy shinobi asked, mockingly. His massive stone covered arms grating and crumbling with every movement as he stepped forward slightly to allow for his clan members to get back.

"Sorry 'bout that but it's nothing personal, just business."

This seemed to infuriate the enemy shinobi as Kazeshini could easily tell from the throbbing vein on his forehead. "Just business, aye? We'll see about that!"

He leapt forward, almost faster than Kazeshini could see, and Kazeshini barely had time to block with her sword. With her entire concentration taken up by trying to block or deflect all the strikes and attacks from the enemy, Kazeshini's sealing chains disappeared.

Kazeshini rolled under a strike and was able to slash into the enemy's side however his entire body seemed to be coated in some sort of stone layer that repaired itself easily. Kazeshini deflected a punch to the side, forcing her to push her entire body weight into the deflection, when another punch came at her. The spiky, stone fist smashed into her side and sent her flying through a tree.

There was no way to stop the next attack and Kazeshini was forced to roll out of the way lest she be crushed beneath the shinobi's feet. An earth technique smashed into her body where she was still trying to get to her feet and while in the air, she was kicked like some demented soccer ball through three more trees.

Kazeshini rolled to her feet, feeling her ribs bruised and a few broken along with a broken collarbone, and slashed Issen Amimasu with a good chunk of chakra towards her adversary.

The guy, so confident in his absolute defense that covered his body in stone, didn't dodge or trying blocking. With as much chakra she had injected into her technique that had been sharpened as if a fine razor, the technique smashed into his torso from shoulder to hip and cut through the layers of stone to the flesh underneath. Unfortunately, this didn't kill him, and he was only injured.

With an enraged yell, the shinobi raced forward while using a series of earth techniques that shot up as if in a wave of spikes. Kazeshini jumped clear of the jutsu, one which would have shredded her body much like it did the trees that she had been kicked through.

Kunai and shuriken were thrown by the other shinobi waiting on the sidelines, trying to stay out of the main fight for now, and Kazeshini barely deflected the ones aimed for vital points while dodging a series of punches and kicks from the rock covered shinobi. Kunai nicked and cut into her body at various points, and blood simply seemed to ooze from all over her body.

The enemy kept attacking and Kazeshini could barely keep up, pushing her body to the max in doing so.

With her collarbone broken, Kazeshini's arm was hanging useless as she couldn't move it so she was already at a major disadvantage. She couldn't even get a break long enough to use one of the seals on her stomach and so she was feeling desperate.

With a loud cry, Kazeshini dodged around a stone fist and used a quick 6-strike combo that, combined with the piercing power of lightning chakra, struck through the enemy's stone covered chest enough to get underneath. The shinobi let out a yell while clutched his chest for a moment, the stone already regenerating over the wounds so he didn't bleed out, before jumping forward to swing his massive stone arms around.

Unable to dodge, Kazeshini was caught by his swinging fist, spikes cutting through layers of armor to pierce through skin and muscle. Smacked back, Kazeshini twisted herself around, ignoring the horrible pain from her broken ribs, to land on the side of a tree feet first. She kicked off, headed straight towards the stone covered shinobi, and used a different but more dangerous 24-strike combo.

With enough power behind the sword technique, one which was half as powerful since it was made to be used with the scabbard when covered with wind chakra to be used as a second sword, Kazeshini was able to kill her combatant with a messy decapitation that had an arterial spray coating her face with droplets of crimson blood.

The technique pretty much drained her stamina, but it gave Kazeshini enough of a chance to stand completely still in a standoff against the other shinobi. They might have all been frozen in anticipation, that frozen moment right before initiating battle, but Kazeshini was using that moment to replenish her chakra stores with a bit of nature chakra.

At the unseen signal, Kazeshini attacked with a quick sword technique, one that made Issen Amimasu's natural whistle sound turn into a scream. Only a few shinobi caught on after they were frozen by the horrific sound and released the genjutsu, but by that time Kazeshini had already jumped forward to the nearest shinobi to perform quick decapitations.

With only a handful still alive, Kazeshini chased them down and performed quick assassinations since they had tried running away. It was fairly easy to finish the last enemy shinobi as they tried running away, it being much easier for her to catch up and take them out with stealth than a straight up fight.

With the enemy dead, Kazeshini quickly formed a few water clones and had them begin setting up a fake scene of her death. She had the clones set up all the shinobi as if they had surrounded her, and therefore she had performed a suicide technique so as not to be captured. It was quick, but thorough, and soon Kazeshini had a newly created blood clone perform the technique. Finally, Kazeshini left behind a fake body, all crispy and destroyed but having been created with her DNA so that when the Uzumaki clan came with backup, they would be able to find her 'body.'

With that finished, Kazeshini dispelled the water clones that were standing next to the two recruits as they cried for help to the commander in the assassin corps headquarters. It was right as the two clones were explaining their part in the quick travel that they both burst, startling the commander and two recruits. They all knew that the clones would automatically burst if Kazeshini was knocked unconscious or, which was more than likely, dead.

Kazeshini had figured this was the perfect time to leave the clan while also faking her death so no hunters were sent after her, and no bounty was placed on her head. She had a self-imposed mission, one that would take years to come to fruition, but Kazeshini was determined to stick with it for as long as it would take.

With a swipe of her blood covered fingers at the base of her skull, Kazeshini used a small droplet of chakra to change her appearance. As she ran from the scene of her fake death, leaving no trail behind her to be able to track, Kazeshini's features changed.

Her straight, bright red hair changed completely from the color to the style. Her bangs lengthened so she no longer had a straight hime-cut but instead her bangs were cut at an angle and lengthened a bit while colored snow white. The rest of her hair was the same length, which came to her lower back, but the straight as a board hair was changed so it fell in beautiful ringlets with her hair being a dark Prussian blue at the roots to her shoulders before ever so slowly losing color back to white at the very tips. Kazeshini's normal Uzumaki violet eyes were changed to a silvery grey, one that darkened and lightened with emotions. Finally, her pale skin which burnt easily, was darkened enough so she had a light tan instead.

Kazeshini continued running, not needing to turn back as she had already prepared for this day. It had sprung on her without warning, but Kazeshini was taking this chance lest she miss the opportunity. She had, ever since completing the immortality seal, kept everything on her body in seals in preparation to fake her death and leave. Stuff she needed or wanted was duplicated and stored away including all her stuffed animals, childish as it may seem but she wanted to keep them as a memento of her childhood.

With her careful saving, after having spent mountains of money to practice her smithing, she had amassed enough money to live at least comfortably (for a shinobi) without needing to find some form of work for at least a few years. All she would be spending her money on, would be food and other necessary supplies because she wouldn't be settling down and creating a base of operations for a few years at the very least. The money she had saved up, from her weapons she had been able to sell and the art she had sold, was just enough money to get by as long as it wasn't spent frivolously.

Kazeshini didn't plan on much, as she had no clue of the actual timeline for a while as she didn't know much of anything about Madara or Hashirama. She wasn't going to spend fruitless years trying to track the two boys down, especially when she had no experience tracking anything. She could find and kill when she knew the general location of her target, but she had no clue other than the generic 'fire country' as to where the Senju and Uchiha clans would be located.

For now, Kazeshini was content to run for as long as her legs would let her before crashing in the branches of some tree. Her plans were to travel, learn more about the civilian side of the population, help where she could, sell some art work after a few years, build a base of operations, pick up smithing again, and wait for Konoha to come around.


	19. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

(Ukitake POV)

Ukitake stood as stiff as a board, his muscles so taught that they seemed ready to snap with the slightest movement. He was dressed in his finest armor, and wearing the weapons his daughter had created for him in open view. Dozens of others showed up for the funeral, all wearing the weapons Kazeshini had created, weapons that had saved lives with how well they were made. It was a closed coffin funeral, and Ukitake could hear his wife sobbing uncontrollably over the death of their only child.

The Uzumaki shinobi had left as quickly as possible, Ukitake at the lead, to bring back up to Kazeshini from a mission gone wrong. They had run for hours without stop, and Ukitake had been horrified at the obvious destruction of some sort of suicide jutsu when he had stumbled upon the circle of destruction.

Kikyou was crying, holding a portrait of Kazeshini tightly along with a scroll that had been found in Kazeshini's will.

The will, which divided everything Kazeshini owned to different people and the clan, was set to be read directly after the funeral to be quick and easy for those who would be receiving anything.

Ukitake gripped his weapons, the weapons gifted to him by his daughter, and didn't let up the stony facade that kept his emotions in place.

The ceremony was simple, only a few flowers surrounding Kazeshini's coffin. Finally, as most of the guests began leaving, Ukitake stood up while unfurling a scroll for the few who had been asked to stay.

"I will now read the last will and testament of Uzumaki Kazeshini." He stated, calmly but with a stony edge to his voice, "I, Uzumaki Kazeshini, being of sound mind, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. I revoke all wills and codicils previously made by me. I appoint Uzumaki Ukitake as my Personal Representative to administer this Will, and ask that he be permitted to serve without Court supervision and without posting bond. If Uzumaki Ukitake is unable to serve, then I appoint Uzumaki Kikyou to serve as my Personal Representative, and ask that she be permitted to serve without Court supervision and without posting bond.

"I direct my Personal Representative to pay out of my private accounts all of the expenses of my death, administration expenses, all legally enforced creditor claims, all taxes imposed by the clan, and all other clan charges imposed by reason of my death without seeking reimbursement from or charging any person for any part of the taxes and charges paid, and if necessary, reasonable funeral expenses, including the cost of any suitable marker for my grave, without the necessity of an order of court approving said expenses.

"I devise, bequeath, and give the sword named Soyokaze to Uzumaki Yuri so it may serve and protect you in the field. I devise, bequeath, and give the sword named Daitan Futekina to Uzumaki Hisane so it may serve and protect you in the field. I devise, bequeath, and give the set of paintings labeled for Uzumaki Mito so they may brighten up your life and tell you the truths of the world. I devise, bequeath, and give the set of paintings labeled for the clan head, Uzumaki Saito, so he may use them to ease negotiations between different clans and the Uzuamki. I devise, bequeath, and give all the rest and remainder of my belongings to Uzumaki Ukitake and Uzumaki Kikyou to do with as they see fit. Signed Uzumaki Kazeshini."

Ukitake could hear his wife's sobs all the louder, after having read their daughter's will. He kept a stony face, not letting any emotion out, as he unsealed scrolls from each point on the will. He handed the swords away to Kazeshini's only surviving teammate and then to her old sensei. Ukitake then handed two scrolls full of ink paintings to his clan head, one which would be held in trust for young Mito since she was only a few months old.

By the time both he and Kikyou got home, his stony facade had cracked and he couldn't help clutching his wife close. By the time they got home, he opened the last two seals on the will, each addressed to Ukitake and Kikyou.

Kikyou sobbed all the harder as she held Kazeshini's last words in her hands while Ukitake took a deep, fortifying breath to read Kazeshini's last words to him.

«Dear Tou-san,

I love you dearly, and I thank you for raising me no matter how difficult I knew I could be. Thank you for loving me, holding me, teaching me, supporting me, and everything a good father is supposed to. Remember, no matter how much Kaa-san wears the pants in your relationship when at home, she's still over emotional. So you take good care of her, no matter what. Obviously, my room won't be messed with too much but make sure to look under the tatami mats, in the upper right hand corner. In there, will be everything I ever made, learned and created. All the techniques I made so far, at least the ones I know will be deemed helpful to the clan without a chance of being leaked to anyone else. Some of those techniques I created could be considered forbidden techniques so be careful, only use a clone to practice and not with your own hands.

Now, you might not know this, but I stole jutsu's and artifacts from every single place I have ever been excluding allied clans. This means I have a comprehensive jutsu library of over a thousand techniques, most of which I haven't touch or bothered learning such as earth techniques or fire techniques. The ones I focused my attention on were the water, lightening, and wind techniques. I have the natural affinity for water but developed affinities for lightning and then wind as I began using them so much. Many of those techniques I had at least memorized if I didn't practice them. I also created a library of some of the different sword techniques I have created, many of which require high enough chakra control along with a large amount of chakra that only a handful of Uzumaki shinobi could pull them off, mainly medic-nin.

Now, the artifacts are categorized from simple to lethal. The ones I deemed too dangerous were long destroyed by my hands. I have also created more armor than I knew what to do with, though I never tried selling any of the pieces, so you can do with them as you wish. Most of the weapons I made have been given or sold at this point so there are only a few weapons left behind to do what you want with them.

Finally, I know how difficult it was for Kaa-san to have a kid, but it states in both letters, that in the far-left corner of the hidden library I created, there will be a seal on the wall. You both need to give up a pint of blood to this seal. Once you do, only wait a careful ten months while giving it both your chakra every single day. The one who gives more chakra is the one that will triumph in the end. I won't tell you exactly what will happen after the ten months, but I'm already positive you guys will love it to your heart's content. I had been planning on giving you the seal as a present if I ever died, just so you guys wouldn't be so lonely, and now it'll be put to good use.

I love you Tou-san,

Your beloved Kazeshini-chan»

Ukitake felt tears rolling down his face as he folded up the letter to tuck it away for safe keeping. He hugged Kikyou tightly as she finished her own letter and keened for their lost daughter.

Once they felt ready enough, Ukitake guided Kikyou to Kazeshini's room and pulled up the tatami mat that hid a trap door. One which neither parent had known existed in the first place. Down the ladder, was a room about the thirty feet by ten feet with bookcases lining all the walls, each filled to the brim with books and scrolls.

Looking around, exactly like Kazeshini had written in both their letters, there was a massive seal written out on a blank space of wall on the far-left corner of the hidden room. With care, both grieving parents cut their hands and placed their bloody palms against the seal.

Without delay, the seal shone brightly before sucking at both their blood and their chakra. After a few minutes, they were both hitting at chakra exhaustion and both had blacked out from blood loss.

It was after they woke up, that they noticed the seal pulsing as if a heartbeat. The symbols making up the seal were obscured, and it was also ready to detonate a series of explosions to protect itself should anyone try unraveling it. Ukitake looked to his still unconscious wife and picked her up gently to bring her back into the house. He knew that they had both been out for at least a few hours, especially as he could feel exhaustion dragging at his limbs and mind.

Setting Kikyou in bed, he undressed from his armor and got into bed, hugging his wife close.

~~~~Time Skip Ten Months Later~~~~

Ukitake held his wife's hand as he helped her down the ladder, his fierce wife had gotten sick recently and seemed listless from grief. Neither of them had gotten past the death of their only child, but they made their way to the hidden room under Kazeshini's bedroom to see exactly what the seal was performing.

They only had to wait a few hours when the seal glowed bright as the sun, before collapsing and disappearing. However, on the floor, beneath the seal, was a small wiggling bundle covered in some sort of ink blanket.

Ukitake and Kikyou were frozen in shock until the little bundle let out a cry of distress which had Kikyou jumping forward to hold the small creature against her breast.

Kikyou cried harder, though without a sound, as she hugged the small bundle tightly to herself. "Kazeshini-chan is always looking over us, isn't she?" Kikyou asked while coming closer to her husband who still stood frozen in shock and disbelief.

Ukitake looked down at the bundle in his wife's arms and let out a few tears even as he was smiling at the small babe wrapped in the fuinjutsu ink blanket. "I would think that Kazeshini knew all along that something might happen. I promise that this little one will know all about his or her big sister, and the little one will know how awesome of a big sister Kazeshini could have been."

Kikyou smiled, seeming to gain energy from wherever she had lost it in the wake of her grief. "Yes, our Kazeshini gave us a gift that we will forever cherish."

"What should we name it?" Ukitake asked his wife, not taking his eyes of the small babe who had fallen asleep in exhaustion at this point.

"I was thinking Haruki, for showing us the clear sky and the sunlight when all we thought of was dark clouds and grief." Kikyou stated while gently rubbing her fingers against the soft cheek of their new child.

Ukitake kissed his wife's brow, and hugged her gently with their new child held in between them. "I was thinking, that maybe it was time to retire. I'm getting old, and I would like to spend as long as I have on this earth with our child."

Kikyou leaned her head against her husband's shoulder, "Yes, I would like that. You have already lived past when many others would have died, so I think it is time to not push our luck. This means that you can help take care of this child with me, instead of going off for work." Kikyou couldn't help but release a giggle, "This definitely means you're on diaper duty, Mr. Uzumaki."

Ukitake couldn't hold in the groan at the thought of at least a year or two of smelly diapers. "You wouldn't be cruel to an old man, would you?"

Kikyou slipped from her husband's arms and made her way slowly back up the ladder into the house without saying a word or looking back.

"Honey, dear? You know I love you, right? You wouldn't be that cruel, right? Right? Honey?!"

Kikyou let out a giggle as she continued ignoring her husband, letting him panic at the thought of so many dirty and smelly diapers. She looked down at the small bundle in her arms and smiled, "You are just going to be the best thing ever, and we'll make sure you're happy and safe for as long as possible. We'll train you until you can take on the world!" The small babe just went on sleeping without a care in the world and Kikyou smiled, "Thank you for being born, Haruki, and thank you Kazeshini for giving us another child."


	20. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

(20 Years Old)

Kazeshini sighed as she applied some makeup. Her silver eyes were given a thick outline of kohl with some dark blue eye shadow that matched the color of her hair. A little blush was added and some bright red lip stain for the finish, and Kazeshini was finished. With a quick brush of her hair, the dark blue hair that lightened to predominately ice blue before turning snow white at the tips, was set in a twist that was kept in place with a few hair pins that had bells dangling from the ends. Her snow-white bangs where brushed to the side a bit to help highlight the shape of her face but weren't pinned up.

Finished with her hair, Kazeshini dressed in a new outfit that she had made from scratch, just one of the things she was thankful that she was taught by her mother. She had three main outfits that she now wore: kimonos for looking nice, a half kimono outfit for travel or everyday wear, and her armor for protection when fighting.

Right now, Kazeshini was wearing her more comfortable traveling and everyday outfit which consisted of a black turtle neck under a dark Prussian blue kimono top lined with ice blue with her black fingerless gloves and gold colored metal bracer. Her pants were black that matched her black, knee high boots which were covered with gold colored greaves. On her right thigh was her weapons pouch for easy access. Over the dark, Prussian blue kimono top was a long ice-blue half-haori that only covered her left arm and went down to the ankle on the left side with black tiger stripes decorating the sleeve and bottom edge. On the shoulder of the half haori was Kazeshini's new mon, or heraldry symbol, which consisted of an eight-pronged hollow sun with the coloring being the dark Prussian blue. Over the kimono top and half haori was a black chest piece that completely covered Kazeshini's torso with gold colored edging and was cinched tight around the waist with a gold tie and kept in place over the left shoulder with the half haori with a kyubi no ita (small plate to protect the fastenings).

(A/N: outfit is like ALO Klein just with different colors and tiger stripes instead of flames... Pic of Kazeshini posted as cover image for story)

Kazeshini was enjoying all the blue, black, and gold colors when she had always been around predominately red and orange colors because of the Uzumaki red hair and Uzumaki buildings which were often painted orange. She was even thinking of making her new clan colors as blue, black and gold.

Kazeshini exited the inn she had stayed at for the night, having wanted a shower and bath after making sure not to stay in one place for more than a few hours for weeks, just to be on the safe side. The bed at the inn had been luxurious as if a cloud after having spent weeks sleeping in trees and on a bed roll. Breakfast was found at a vendor, some squid that was kept in water to keep it live before being cut up still alive. Kazeshini liked squid, though she had first been disgusted at the fact that it still moved even when the chef cut off the brain to get at the meat. Her second favorite was eel, especially eel on sushi with some crab and that sweet eel sauce.

Finished with her meal, Kazeshini made her way slowly out of the town she had visited to stay in the inn. Now, she was on her way to get to some sort of mountain range and build a base of operations that she would be staying in for more than a few years. Kazeshini had already made plans for where she would like to live and how she would like to live. It would take a few years to build but Kazeshini was determined to build her soon to be home by herself without having to hire anyone else.

With her skill with smithing, and plenty of experience with the simple missions she had taken around Uzu to help upkeep the buildings, paint fences, paint rooms, rebuild roofs, and other such home improvement missions, Kazeshini felt good enough to try building her home herself. She just needed to find the perfect place.

Kazeshini continued traveling, only needing to walk since she didn't feel like running. At a few times, she even came upon some civilian travelers, all armed to the teeth and eyeing her careful to discern if she was a threat.

Having dealt predominantly with shinobi and rich civilians, it was a jarring experience to see the true side of the civilian population. They had all been hit hard by the clan wars, always as casualties from shinobi fights spilling over. Many carried some sort of weapon as protection especially since no shinobi clan really cared about the bandits roaming the roads, especially since shinobi really only fought against other shinobi.

More than a few times Kazeshini found herself massacring some bandit camp, each and every one of them filled to the brim with thieves and rapists.

The roads were long and lonely, but Kazeshini was using this time to unwind and decompress from her shinobi life. As she traveled, she didn't often have to fight and traveling like a civilian on civilian roads meant that shinobi didn't attack her thought there was still the occasional bloodthirsty psychopath.

~~~~Time Skip One Year Later~~~~

(21 Years Old)

Kazeshini wiped at her brow and took in a deep breath while looking around the mountain range she was hiking over, trying to find a perfect spot. She was looking for anyplace that would be easily protected and not easily found. Personally, Kazeshini was looking for some sort of sheer cliff like areas with some nice scenery. She was only a basic at earth techniques, and while it would take more chakra to use nature manipulations than any actual technique, she would be able to build some sort of home within the rocks of the cliffs.

Everything was already planned and her base of operations could be lit up with mirrors so she could invite civilians to live in her hidden city.

Kazeshini stepped up to the edge of a cliff, one she was hoping would be like the one she imagined, and sighed in relief and awe at the breathtaking view. She stood upon a cliff side that overlooked a small valley, cut through by a dangerously fast river. To either side of the river were thick forests of evergreen trees and a perpetual mist hung around the forest making it look dark and haunted.

It was perfect.

With care, Kazeshini used the chakra control to walk down the side of the cliff for a few hundred feet before using rock natured chakra to dig an entrance to what would eventually turn into a massive cavern. For now, Kazeshini would only create an alcove, one which took plenty of chakra and a sealing scroll to seal away the excess rock and dirt.

Low clouds hung around the small valley before releasing a slow drizzle. Kazeshini was hidden from the drizzle but the clouds still invaded her little alcove and made everything damp.

To fight the dampness of this cloud, Kazeshini released some firewood from a storage scroll and set it aflame with a simple campfire jutsu, a jutsu that only released a small tongue of fire and not anything that could be used in battle.

With the flames merrily crackling away, keeping the damp from her person and her belongings, Kazeshini set out a bed roll. Not yet ready to sleep, Kazeshini got out a blank scroll and began painting. Her artwork, she noticed, had begun lightening and her work was no longer as dark as it once had been. She no longer painted with the mindset of blood and death, but instead life and beauty were her topics.

Kazeshini finishes painting and brought out her biwa (seven stringed lute-like instrument) and began plucking away at the strings. With a quiet snicker, Kazeshini began playing the tune to the Song of Storms even as she could still hear the pitter-patter of rain from in the valley.

~~~~Time Skip Three Years Later~~~~

(24 Years Old)

Kazeshini took out the last bandit with Issen Amimasu, one who had been in a large group trying to rob a small group of travelers. The small group of civilians were huddled, terrified, under their carts as Kazeshini finished off the bandits.

"Are you all okay?" Kazeshini asked as she helped an elderly woman from the ground where she had been thrown by a bandit.

"Yes, samurai-san." Spoke up a man who Kazeshini supposed had to be the leader of the group of civilians.

Kazeshini didn't bother correcting the man's assumption that she was a samurai, it would be viewed better at this time than being seen as a shinobi since most shinobi were viewed in a very bad light. "May I ask where you are all headed to?"

The man, wearing simple clothes that matched his plain face and simple dark brown hair, looked around at his family before replying, "Our home and lands were destroyed by shinobi-" Kazeshini held back the wince, thankful to not have corrected the man at her true occupation with the proof that shinobi were still viewed in a negative light, "-and we were forced to leave lest we starve. We are headed to the nearest town to see if I can get work."

Kazeshini nodded, "I have a place for you to live and work if you wish. All you would need to do, would be to work as you always have."

He looked at her nervously, as if the offer was a trap just waiting to ensnare him and his family. "Where is this place?"

With a calm smile, trying to keep the man from bolting, Kazeshini answered, "I don't have a map, but it is two week's travel from here. It is hidden and protected so no shinobi would ever be able to destroy your lands and home again. If you accept my offer, I can show you where it is located."

The man gave a nervous smile before turning to his family to get their opinions. It was the old woman that Kazeshini had helped up from the ground that bashed her cane over the man's head, this made Kazeshini assume she was the man's mother, that the man turned back and accepted the offer.

The travel was slow and tiring. The ox pulling the single cart, which carried the few belongings the family still had along with most of the family, was slow as a slug. Kazeshini wished to go a little faster at the very least, but was pleasantly surprised that the ox never seemed to tire and just kept plodding on from dawn till dusk. Travelling to her hidden village took an extra two days, but they made it to the valley without much problem. It helped that Kazeshini had thought of civilian type of travel and therefore, had made a simple road to get to the valley in between the towering cliffs on either side.

Kazeshini had a bridge built over the river, with the help of plenty of clones, and it was a beautiful arched bridge with dozens of dangling shide (zigzag-shaped paper streamers) and bells hanging from arches that spanned the entire length of the bridge. They slowly went across from one side of the river to the other, and came upon a zigzagging path that went far enough up the cliff side that it was soon hidden by the low hanging clouds. The path up the cliff side was literally cut into the stone face so that the road was covered. Then there were pillars every ten feet on the edge of the path, carved with the likeness of tigers and dragons, with beautifully carved railing in between each pillar so there was no chance of accidentally falling off the edge of the path.

It took hours to climb up the path, but luckily everyone was just so awed at the sights.

Kazeshini couldn't help but smirk, she was just that awesome to create a working road up a cliff with railing as a safety feature.

Finally, at the very top, the civilian family were awed by the beautiful view of the valley before turning towards the dark cavern to follow Kazeshini who had entered without pause.

The cavern started out dark, before lightening considerably after passing a bend in the path. However it didn't lighten up into any sort of cavern, but it came to a door. A double sided, massive and beautifully carved door lit up by a pair of carved stone lanterns, but a door nonetheless. Kazeshini stood in front of this door and smiled warmly to the civilian family even as she opened the door, "Welcome to Taiyō no Seiiki, or the Solar Sanctuary."

The civilians were awed at the sight, amazed at the beauty before them. It was a massive cavern with what looked to be naturally formed stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites reaching for the sky. At the very front, was a massive crystalline pool with what looked to be glowing algae that shown in cool blues, greens, and purples. Colorful koi fish darted around the crystal-clear waters, splashing periodically while thousands of paper lanterns floated on the surface glowing not from little candles but from seals that Kazeshini had drawn up.

Over the massive crystalline pool was a beautiful stone bridge arched in traditional Japanese style with bells and more shide hanging from over hanging arches. It was across the bridge that a truly beautiful piece of craftsmanship seemed to glow from the luminous algae. It was a mix of ancient Greek and traditional Japanese craftsmanship to form a massive palace that dominated over similarly styled buildings.

What the civilians didn't know, was that Kazeshini had spent a little over three years crafting everything with her chakra and hundreds of clones.

Kazeshini remembered being in a command tent, giving orders to the hundreds of clones which she kept creating and didn't bother dispelling since there was so much work to do. They trooped around, ever so slowly doing various jobs such as molding the stalactites, which were in no way naturally formed over hundreds of years but instead molded within a few days for each.

She remembered visiting Carlsbad Caverns in her previous life, and many of those beautiful formations were prevalent in her new home. However, since none of the stalactites and stalagmites weren't formed naturally, she could decide what she wanted where as well as adding the 'rare' types to create a beautiful mosaic that looked natural to any visitors.

Kazeshini had spent hundreds of clones trying various ways to create crystals as well, so massive pillars of crystals grew from in between the stalactites and stalagmites. She had been forced to experiment for weeks on end, with hundreds of clones to find how exactly chakra could build crystal. She had found the specific ratio of lightning and earth chakra to create the crystals but it was not something she could do naturally or with ease. It also took enough chakra to make one giant man-sized crystal that she could create a lake of water with a regular jutsu.

Over the years of building and creating, Kazeshini had started taking out all of her belongings that she had stored in various storage scrolls. In the goodbye letter to her parents, which she still choked up thinking about, Kazeshini had told them she had destroyed any dangerous artifacts she had found but it was a lie. All those dangerous artifacts were too useful to be destroyed on a whim. They were dangerous, yes, but in the right hands they could prove useful.

The Japanese styled palace she had created was made to be filled, not entirely empty. She had a dozen guest rooms, but all the other rooms had actual uses. There was a throne room (which held a massive oak desk right in front of the 'throne'), a training room, a trophy room, a storage room, a sealing room, a kitchen, dining hall, an equipment room which consisted of artful settings for both weapons and armor, a library, a sitting room, etc.

Already, Kazeshini had filled a good portion of the trophy room with different artifacts as well as the equipment room which had dozens of display cases already filled with weapons.

Kazeshini looked to the civilian group, wanting to smirk at their slack-jawed appearances but felt it was too rude. Kazeshini had spent years building a place where a secret community could live, one where she was the leader and where she would never be ousted for not aging for as long as she needed.

The community she was planning on building was all to support her goal, to have a bright future for the land, and she just needed people now to help populate this hidden community. She planned on making the community something that would be highly advanced with tools and techniques from her previous life that she still remembered. Personally, she was too selfish to try spreading all the information she had from thousands of years of evolution from her previous world, and she knew that spreading too much information too fast would cause devastation.

With a small community that she resided over, Kazeshini could control the flow of information and ideas so that nothing got too far out of hand. She most certainly didn't want to be the spark that ignited any sort of resentment from the lower class against the upper class.

Kazeshini walked across the bridge with a purpose in her step, watching koi swim and splash in the crystal-clear pool of water just below her. "There are plenty of empty buildings for you to live in if you wish. Though if you want to cultivate land, there are some empty buildings that I can show you that are closer to planting fields."

The head of the small family jogged forward to catch up to Kazeshini, "You would give us land and a home, for free?"

Kazeshini nodded, "The land is something I know can be grown on, and I have check over light mirrors that will help to bring plenty of light to properly grow any crops. With a turn of a wheel, you can add plenty of sunlight to grow your crops especially since the algae doesn't grow out of water so the glow can't reach into the side tunnels and caverns."

The man bowed, thankful and Kazeshini guided the small family to a building in the same style of a mix of Greek and Japanese. They quickly settled their cart while the family went out to a side tunnel that Kazeshini indicated, and were awestruck at the sight of a massive cavern, seeming glowing gold from sunlight that bounced from the sun to a series of mirrors before lighting up the cavern.

(A/N: Imagine the caverns from Stephanie Meyer's The Host, save that it is better hidden and closed off)

Kazeshini left the family on their own to settle in, the children already running around playing and giggling which seemed to echo around the caverns Kazeshini had built.

Truthfully, there were still dozens of empty buildings just waiting for new occupants, and Kazeshini was planning on plenty of excursions to find the many different occupants she would need to build a thriving community.

On her list were a few more farmers, a tailor, different types of cooks and chefs, a banker, blacksmiths, a butcher or two, some ranchers who could take care of livestock, maybe a barber, a few doctors or medic nin, an undertaker, laundry service, some police, a messenger service, some military, some miners (as she had found more than a few ore veins), a few hunters who could collect furs and animals from the valley, some teachers, and a bartender for a tavern.

Many of these specialty buildings had already been created, such as two rows of shops and stalls that lined either side of the main street. Now, she just needed to people to fill the small village which would eventually be able to hold around two-thousand people.

She had everything planned, including the classes that everyone would be able to take and that children would be required to take.

Kazeshini went to sleep that night, still on a bed roll since she had yet to buy any sort of futon or mattress for a bed, and prepared herself for the next few years of getting a successful community together.


	21. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

(25 Years Old)

With a final swirl of her brush on the paper, Kazeshini had created the seal to end all other seals, the Hirashin. The seal of seals that allowed for true teleportation from one place to another by warping both space and time to allow her to slip between the fabrics of reality around her. Her earlier teleportation seals had not truly been up to the Hirashin standards of instantaneous teleportation, but now she had completed it.

With it complete, she could finally go home without worry of being seen. She could protect her first home from the shadows and not worry about others seeing her as power hungry for trying to live beyond her normal lifespan.

The last year had allowed for her to settle into the life she was currently building around her, full of just enough people that she was self-sufficient without wasting time in being so. While not everything had gone perfectly so far, she was content with where she was currently at.

Her own personal shinobi corps was just in its infancy stage and most of her people were still illiterate. This would just take time, not something that Kazeshini didn't currently have in abundance. She knew she couldn't change the timeline too much lest she step on the wrong 'butterfly' and kill off a line of descendants that would befriend one specific person who would be able to learn an important life lesson and cause someone else to fall in love and marry and have the right children who could go on to save a Konoha shinobi who could inspire Minato to become a shinobi.

If she stepped on that one butterfly without knowing it, she could kill one person and their descendants wouldn't befriend a specific person who then wouldn't be able to learn an important life lesson who then wouldn't allow for another person to fall in love and marry and have the right children who then wouldn't exist to save that one nameless Konoha shinobi who would die and never inspire Minato to become a shinobi.

These were all what if's, and she could also do nothing that wouldn't have already changed the timeline. She could also try and try and try to change the timeline but it could be set on a certain path where only minor changes were possible.

Kazeshini flipped over her desk, ignoring the paperwork that had started piling up, and ran out of her palace. With a quick explanation to a few of the inhabitants that Kazeshini had invited to her new home, Kazeshini ran towards Uzu as though the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

Taiyo was located in the Land of Rain, right on the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind. It was in an opportune spot that allowed for the ease of access between all the great nations while being centered in the middle of the continent. She had found just the perfect place, where the rains had carved into the land to create the dangerous cliff area before a sharp drop in the land above sea level caused the river to spread out into multiple rivers. The river Taiyo was situated near, the river in the middle of the cliff, was just one of many run off points that the rains from Ame drained into.

So, without much further ado, Kazeshini ran to her birthplace. She ran swiftly, with her feet barely seeming to touch the ground she sprinted over, until she hit the shoreline. Then, without much pause, Kazeshini ran with all her might, bounding over the great swirling vortexes, towards Uzu.

It was in the village proper that Kazeshini disguised herself with a genjutsu seal that turned her invisible by bending light waves around her figure and stamped down on her chakra until it was compressed and undetectable by even the greatest of sensors. That was practically impossible to do, especially since her immortality seal turned her into a chakra construct with tangible form.

She avoided all the Uzumaki shinobi and made her way home, and she felt tears welling in her eyes at the sight of her home. With care, Kazeshini slipped into the backyard and watched as Kikyou walked out of the house with a small little five-year old at her side. The small child had Ukitake's straight jaw line but Kikyou's high cheekbones, he looked like the perfect mixture of both his parents especially when he shared both of their vibrant red hair and bright purple eyes.

"Come on Haruki-chan, let's go help kaa-san with the garden." Kikyou said while smiling brightly down to her son.

"M'kay, kaa-san." The small five-year old held his mother's kimono skirt in his fist as he navigated the steps off the porch and into the small garden that Kazeshini remembered helping take care of. The small child was happy and smiled brightly when he showed his mother a small lady bug that he had in his small little hands.

Kazeshini watched them carefully, relaxing on the roof where she had escaped to so as not to be easily noticed and have a good line of sight down into the backyard. Kazeshini watched for hours as Haruki both helped his mother with the garden and play as well, having fun and constantly asking questions about anything and everything under the sun.

A little while later and Kazeshini saw her father stepping out into the backyard wearing a nice yukata and carrying two practice swords with him. Haruki gave a cheer at the sight of Ukitake and ran around his father with excitement to begin more swords practice.

Kazeshini smiled fondly as she watched her parents help and teach her younger brother even as she noticed the prominent streaks of grey decorating her father's crimson hair and the laugh lines and little crow's feet decorating her mother's face as they both grew older.

She watched them for hours as the three enjoyed a mild summer's day, laughter a constant source of music to Kazeshini's ears. Then, when they went inside, Kazeshini went to the clan head's home to check on the little Uzumaki princess, Uzumaki Mito.

The little seven-year-old was currently sitting down with some stuffy old tutor while she diligently copied down kanji that had been set in front of her. Kazeshini let out a near silent chuckle at the sight of little Mito puffing her chubby little cheeks, as even with training some residual baby fat still clung to her adolescent body, and gave a cute little glare at her tutor for taking away her sheet of paper and making her do it over again.

It was cute, but nowhere as cute as her little brother Haruki as his messy red hair was tousled by his father or when Haruki's little cheeks grew a dark red from blushing as he handed his mother a bright little dandelion.

Those were the moments that Kazeshini would cherish, those were the moments that made Kazeshini plan murder on all those who would try and destroy her family.

With a smile, Kazeshini went back to her former home and carefully planted a Hirashin seal on the roof before activating the brother seal that currently sat on her desk in Taiyo.

The minute she reappeared, Kazeshini had to just sit in her comfortably padded swivel chair, and cry. She cried her heart out, letting out loud wails and sobs, wanting to desperately to give up all her plans and just go home to be with her family.

It took over an hour, with a massive migraine creeping up on her as well as exhaustion from being so emotionally wrung out, before Kazeshini stopped crying and shuffled her way through her palace and to her bedroom.

The room was massive, with a massive feather bed that felt as though she could be sleeping on a cloud, and she simply stripped out of her clothes and collapsed into the comforter. With a few last sniffles, Kazeshini wiggled herself underneath the covers and wrapped herself up in the midnight blue Egyptian styled cotton sheets. There, she clenched her puffy eyes shut and promptly fell asleep.

A/N: Senju Hashirama will be thirty-five by the time he gets his genin team with Sarutobi on it. Konoha won't be 'complete' until Hashirama is in his late twenties. Sarutobi will be mid-fifties when Minato dies and Naruto is born. So, I will have Konoha be around sixty years old when Naruto is born and seventy-three when Naruto becomes a genin. This means that with Kazeshini was 18 when Mito was born and Kazeshini will be roughly 38 when Hashirama and Madara create Konoha (this is if Hashirama is 3-5 years older than Mito).

The First Shinobi War will be when Sarutobi is a genin at ten and the Second will be when Sarutobi is in his mid to late thirties with his genin team being proclaimed the Sannin. The Third war will be when Sarutobi is in his mid-forties and will proclaim Minato as Yondaime Hokage when he turns fifty. Five years later, the Yondaime will die and Naruto is born.

This translates to Kazeshini being 38 when Konoha is built, 53 when Sarutobi is put on a genin team and the First shinobi war breaking out, 80 when the Second war breaks out, 88 when the Third war breaks out, 93 when Minato is Hokage, 98 when Minato dies and Naruto is born, and 111 when Naruto becomes a genin.


	22. Chapter 34 (Caught up to Original)

Chapter Thirty-Four

(30 Years Old)

Kazeshini sighed, she presided over an entire group of people all just trying to live their day to day lives. Every day, some petty squabbles were brought to her attention and Kazeshini was forced to intercede and fix everything. Luckily, the knowledge she knew from her previous life helped immensely with organizing and helping the small hidden village.

Kazeshini smirked, now she thought about it. Her village was truly the first hidden village, beating the creation of all other hidden villages by at least a decade. In her village, which included the original civilian family she had invited to live here were a few ronin samurai, a few clan-less shinobi, and a dozen other civilian families.

To live in this village, everyone was supposed to work. Those warriors that no longer wanted to fight could use their skills to help wherever they were able. An old poison user now spent her years cultivating a flower shop and selling poisons to those warriors who were still active. A samurai, who was dismissed from the service of his lord due to his age without as much as a by your leave, now helped guide young children in the academy.

The academy was what Kazeshini was most proud of. She had made it a requirement for every single child from five to sixteen to sit in lessons. They were taught everything from etiquette to literature to mathematics. All students, no matter if they were on the warrior track or civilian track, were required to learn the basics of every single class. It was when they wanted to specialize on the warrior track or civilian track that they took more advanced classes for what they wanted to learn. Kazeshini personally taught different classes, with clones helping as well, to teach various classes such as fuinjutsu and advanced farming techniques with biology pilfered from her previous life.

Kazeshini sat behind a massive desk, sitting in a large decorated chair which was very comfortable that allowed for squabbling folks to come forward with their grievances. Issen Amimasu was in a place of honor on the wall behind her, framed by a few dozen throwing knives arranged as decoration though they were all still as sharp as the day they were forged. The side walls of the room made from the natural granite, were encased in glass that were filled with water to keep the glowing algae hydrated and healthy. The room literally glowed from the amount of algae, and Kazeshini was quite happy with the effect.

Everything was lit up bright enough but in the cool greens, blues, and purples that just seemed to soften everything. It was in the specific caverns that Kazeshini had made for farmers, which had mirrors bouncing natural light from the outside that made everything in those rooms seem to shine gold. It was truly an awe-inspiring sight when a farmer grew wheat, because when it turned gold, everything just seemed too magical to be real.

With her occasional excursions outside of the caverns, Kazeshini had heard how the Uchiha and Senju clans were now constantly fighting each other. She had also heard that Mito was already a kunoichi, with a special emphasis in fuinjutsu.

Kazeshini had also heard a bit about her baby brother, who was twenty years younger than her. Haruki had grown up hearing stories of his big sister and specialized in sword fighting, still trying to actually use the techniques Kazeshini had left behind though Kazeshini would have been able to wipe the floor with him when they were the same age. She suspected that her amazing and prodigal growth was mostly in part to already having twenty years of memories, but it also had to be because she knew the horrible future this world was doomed to until Naruto defeated Kaguya and Madara.

Everything was going good so far, she had heard whispers of the names Madara and Hashirama who were the clan heirs still of their respective clans. Truly, Kazeshini only had to wait, at the most, another decade before the formation of Konoha and all the other hidden villages.

What set Kazeshini's mind at ease would be the fact that she had layered her entire village with enough seals that anyone just passing by would just automatically run or walk around any special landmarks such as the bridge over the river and the beautifully decorated path up into the caverns. The village was truly hidden, and only those that left with a special seal could come back without getting lost. Luckily, all such seals were secretly carved on the necklaces, bracelets, and hair accessories that every single inhabitant wore with pride. It seemed that everyone had begun wearing bells as though to match the decorations on the two bridges (one over the river in the valley and one over the cavern pool).

Kazeshini sighed as she finished hearing the two squabbling residents of Taiyō. They were arguing over some sort of crop dispute; one farmer had planned to plant eggplant but the other had already planted eggplant though he had planned to grow wheat. Kazeshini solved it by saying that the one who was no longer growing wheat had to give up an eighth of his harvest for the inconvenience even when all farmers had called a meeting to decide on what everyone would be growing.

Finished, Kazeshini stood up and stretch before concentrating on a hidden hiraishin seal planted in Uzu. Every few weeks, Kazeshini came over to watch over her family, especially her baby brother. She had even given Hakuri different anonymous gifts throughout the years such as toys when he was younger and weapons as he began training to be a shinobi.

Careful to hide her chakra and disguise it with nature chakra, Kazeshini spied upon her little brother practicing in the back yard. Her old forge was still standing, neither Ukitake nor Kikyou having the heart to try taking it down, and Haruki was careful to not practice too close to the unkempt forge.

She watched him perform his katas, going from beginner to intermediate. He still wasn't the best, but Kazeshini knew he had the heart to practice without giving up. Kazeshini watched him practice, and couldn't help smirking as she saw him practicing with an old weapon she had forged ages ago, years before the creation of Issen Amimasu.

The hour passed quickly, Kazeshini practically ignoring the world around her even as she used the various stealth techniques she had learned and been trained in to stay hidden. It would mess up her plans to be found out, and she knew with absolute certainty that her parents would know who she was regardless of the change in hair and eye color.

Going back to her manor was just as easy as jumping to Uzu. She sighed and relaxed a bit in her chair as she watched the algae decorating the walls behind the glass, moved in the slight current as if it was some sort of fur on a giant beast or bijuu.

Looking out the window of her throne room, she watched the people of Taiyo go about their daily business. The throne room itself had a door that let out to the main hallway of her palace home that was carefully hidden behind beautiful silk draperies and marble columns. The large window that Kazeshini was looking out of was framed by glass covered algae on all four sides, looked over the main street of Taiyo. Leaning against the algae wall, Kazeshini could make out the sight of the massive cavern pool as well as the bridge that spanned all the way across it.

She had built this place and filled it with misfits, undesirables, and the lost. She needed a base of operations for the many years ahead, and a small hidden community would be her ticket to success. Despite the passing years, Taiyo was still in its infancy, and Kazeshini couldn't leave for more than a few days lest the small place was thrown into anarchy without a definite leader in place.

Still, there were still dozens of empty homes just waiting to be filled by eager new families and plenty of extra space in the academy regardless of a student's future occupation. Even with night classes to allow for the adults in the community to learn if they wanted, the academy still had empty seats and empty classrooms. Kazeshini knew that the population would rise from the measly one-hundred eighty-three people currently living in Taiyo, but it would take a while longer.

It was a good thing that Kazeshini had thought of how she would have steady and private food source with turned into wanting a private community at her back. Even now, food supply was so great, with techniques she had introduced from her previous life, that everyone was gaining a healthy luster. No longer did Kazeshini see the common look upon young faces of hard times and lean meals. Now, everyone could eat their fill and all waste went in a massive and carefully tended compost heap to help fertilize the crops.

One thing that Kazeshini enjoyed, and that she didn't personally introduce to the community, were climbing roses. These vines were carefully tended by an ex-shinobi so they were constantly in full bloom. The poor guy had lost his right ear and eye in a brutal attack, leaving behind horrible scarring where he lost a few fingers and could no longer lift with his right arm because of how badly it had healed after shattering in the attack. He jumped at loud noises and often suffered nightmares which bled over in the form of horrific flashbacks and panic attacks.

The one thing that seemed to keep the ex-shinobi calm, was tending to his climbing roses. Any rose that was colored completely red was snipped as soon as it bloomed and he liked setting them on Kazeshini's office desk as some sort of thank you gift. However, these full red roses weren't the most common since he cultivated as many colors as possible: blue, orange, purple, pink, white, yellow, red, marbled, etc. He even had a carefully cultivated rose bush with absolutely the most beautiful silver roses.

Luckily, the algae gave off the correct type of light that made the rose vines and rose bushes grow like crazy.

For now, Kazeshini was happy with the people she had living in her community. They all worked to better their lives, all helping each other when needed. No one was lazy or fed off the good work of others. There were no nobles to live off the livelihood of others, and no lazy council members who tried lining their pockets with gold. All council members were the elderly and infirmed, and they only got together to settle disputes that Kazeshini might not have the time for or to bring certain needs to Kazeshini's attention.

They weren't allowed to create or pass laws or rules, they could advise her on any decisions, but Kazeshini had made sure that the council of elders would never be able to grab power. The only rule they had passed was an age requirement that no one could join the council of elders until they were in their sixties which was practically ancient in this day and age, even for civilians. Kazeshini had made the council of elders so that they were viewed with respect and honor for the years they had lived, but they would never be able to rule the community. Such a status would mean that corruption could never tempt any council members, for they could do nothing but settle disputes of the citizens of Taiyō or bring certain things to Kazeshini's attention.

Kazeshini went to her forge, made even better than the make-shift forge she had created in Uzu two decades previously, and began practicing her craft. She had always been a weapon's crafter, but ruling over a community largely made from civilians still meant she put her smithing skills to crafting items meant to sow wheat and not death. In the past few years, she had made hundreds of different items, all things she hadn't realized were so vital to the lives of those living in Taiyo.

Once she had a few more blacksmiths, they could do the bulk of the work that Kazeshini was needed for.

As she slaved away before the hot fires of her forge, banging away at red-hot metal, Kazeshini thought of how she wanted the military of Taiyo structured.

She would have shinobi and samurai working for the safety of the community, but Kazeshini didn't quite know how she would mesh the two different groups together. Samurai thought that the shinobi were honor less and the shinobi thought the samurai were too rigid and traditional. Kazeshini was truthfully thinking of making special pairings of a samurai with a shinobi partner so one could do what the other could not when out on missions. Both classes would train in the use of chakra, but the samurai would focus on their sword skills and other techniques while the shinobi would focus on ninjutsu and genjustu.

Now that she was thinking about it, that was a pretty good idea. Have a shinobi-samurai partnership so to create comradery within the different groups, and the pairing would allow for diverse missions since the samurai could do things the shinobi could not and vice versa. Then to watch over the pair, there would be another more experienced pair to create a four man team. The higher ranked samurai in the team could help train the lower ranked samurai and the higher ranked shinobi could help train the lower ranked shinobi.

There would be teams of four (consisting of two samurai and two shinobi), squadrons of four teams (sixteen fighters), platoons of four squadrons (sixteen teams and sixty-four fighters), companies of four platoons (sixty-four teams and two hundred-fifty six fighters), and four divisions (two hundred- fifty six teams and one thousand-twenty four fighters). For now, there were barely enough capable and willing fighters to fill two squadrons. However, Kazeshini knew that there were already dozens of young children in the academy trying to get into the warrior track and become fighters by separating into the samurai path or shinobi path.

When the first true graduating class came around, Kazeshini was going to support a team with one of the ronin she had invited to live in Taiyo and create one of the first teams.

The samurai that she was going to be working with was an honorable man, too old to truly fight and protect a liege lord so had been dismissed from service despite the years of service. Fukushima Akahiro was an honorable man, taking good care of his weapons and armor though he was getting too old to survive any sort of fast paced fight the likes of which Kazeshini could.

The two children they were going to form a team with would be Takata Fumio for the samurai path and Murayama Harada for the shinobi path. However, each of them were still a few years from properly graduating the academy.

It didn't help that no matter how genius or prodigal a student was, Kazeshini had made a rule that no student could pass through the academy without taking sex-education. The clause to this rule, no matter what, was that no child could take sex-education until they turned ten. This meant that no young kids, no matter how smart or prodigal could be thrown out into battle without plenty of training. However, because of how new the academy still was, classes were a hodgepodge assortment of different classes still trying to accommodate night classes for the civilian adults wanting to become literate.

Kazeshini knew that in another decade, the community would settle into a steady rhythm and the academy would also settle into a steady rhythm to accommodate a steady flow of students. At its current state, though, the community was still in slight turmoil from the novelty of it all and as such, the academy was in turmoil from the high influx of students. This meant that practically everyone was at different levels and classes were slow going. Once there was a steady rhythm of students all coming at the same age to start classes, the classes would move faster and much more smoothly.

For now, all Kazeshini needed to do was wait before allowing for missions to bring in an income to the community. Though they weren't hurt for cash, especially since she had hundreds of storage scrolls filled with beautiful granite that was easily sold to the nobles rich enough to afford the stone which was cut and polished for high market value.

They were a mainly self-sufficient community as she had a few civilians doing nearly every job imaginable. With her help, there were even paper makers that had begun selling such high-quality paper that it was at a very high market value. They cultivated rice fields, and after the harvest (in which the rice itself was stored for food) the leftover rice stalks were beaten into a to pulp along with mulberry bark. This wet, pulpy mixture was then set out on plain rock out on the cliffs to dry out and bleach naturally in the elements for an entire year. Squares of rice stalk and mulberry bark pulp would be flipped so all the pulp would bleach in natural lighting. Afterwards, it would be set in a water mixture to turn into watery pulp and shredded even finer, before being sifted on large wire meshes to create paper which would take over a day to properly dry each piece of paper.

Kazeshini had shown how to do the basics of making good quality paper to a dozen members of the community and they took to paper making with a passion and dedication that surprised her.

Surprisingly enough, they even had a silk farm because the silk worms ate mulberry leaves. The mulberry trees were used for their berries to make different jams if not just plainly eaten, their leaves for the silkworms, and the bark for the paper.

Silk worms were carefully fed until they began forming cocoons. After hatching, the cocoons were harvested and set to soak in various solutions to help separate the fibers. Eventually, the silk fibers were turned into silk cloth that was made into various different patterns. The bolts of silk could be turned into clothes by the tailors or Kazeshini carried the bolts of silk to towns and cities farther away from Taiyo to pay for needed supplies.

However, even being the leader of Taiyo, Kazeshini still went out to steal various different jutsus and techniques from different shinobi clans around the continent. With this, she still got in fights and so her skills were kept sharp.

To get even better, Kazeshini also trained constantly and kept up her training seal which was so high now that she could crack stone with each step if there were actual training weights other than her gravity/resistance seal. Her training lasted for three hours every morning before breakfast before she helped around Taiyo or did paperwork. Then, after lunch, she trained for another six hours unless some event came up that needed her attention. After dinner, Kazeshini let that time be for relaxing and doing whatever she wanted.

Training consisted often of running miles and miles around a massive track purposely built into the caverns (measured at a circumference of 3.5 miles), pushups, sit-ups, curl-ups, lunges, squats, stretches, weight training, sword training, jutsu training, chakra control exercises, and anything else she could think of. She did the exact same training as all children in the academy, going only a little faster than the preteens, but she was weighed down by well over three times the gravity of the planet which weighed heavily on every single inch of her body as well as the resistance of walking through thick sand on top of the added weight.

Until such a time that Kazeshini could visit and spy on Konoha, which still wasn't even close to being created, Kazeshini was going to prepare herself as well as possible. She wanted to see if it was at all possible to just kill Madara after his fight with Hashirama after the creation of Konoha. Doing that, would stop a lot of the problems that would occur in the future but Kazeshini didn't know if black zetsu would work around Madara and just start manipulating some other Uchiha.


	23. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

(33 Years Old)

Kazeshini crouched carefully in a tree as she watched the Senju and Uchiha clans fighting in an all-out war against each other. In the very center of the battle, she could easily see Hashirama and Madara duking it out, throwing ninjutsus that changed the very landscape around them. Then, with clashing of weapons all around the two fighters, she witnessed a small little Uchiha boy take a devastating blow for the clan head.

Even from nearly a mile away, Kazeshini could hear the anguished scream that Madara gave out as the young man held the now dead Uchiha. Kazeshini couldn't remember the boy's name, but she suspected that the boy was Madara's little brother and the person that pushed Madara over the edge of sanity where it was now just going to be a slow spiral downwards.

The two clans retreated from each other and Kazeshini leapt away from the tree branch she was crouched on, her body flipping backwards in a purely acrobatic move that demonstrated the pure freedom in moving under her own power.

Truthfully, she was feeling slightly stifled back at Taiyo and so she had left behind a series of blood clones to be able to run the hidden village without much fuss. This meant she could leave and do whatever the hell she wanted without any old biddy looking at her with disapproval or having her advisors tell her what needed to be done.

In fact, she was out here to practice her old trade and start collecting information, without much assassination though. It took a few hours run to get to the capital of the Land of Fire, and she stopped once she was on the outskirts of the large city.

With a few deft movements of her fingers, she had a series of bunshins created and from a scroll came a small carriage. Two of her clones stepped in front of the carriage to hold the bars and push the carriage forwards while another two helped Kazeshini dress.

It took well over an hour for the three bunshins to help Kazeshini into a seven-layered kimono, though the bottom three layers were fake as they were only a few colored colors, while also doing up her hair and makeup. Though her hair was colored black with a seal, it had to be expertly pressed and carefully folded, twisted, and bound with multiple stylish hairpieces that would match the kimono.

By the end, she was dressed as a geisha of high standing, one who traveled plenty and was moderately successful. Kazeshini stepped up into the small carriage and her two 'peasant' bunshins began pulling the cart while two of her helper bunshins henged into armed guards who began walking alongside the carriage. The last bunshin wore a simple but elegant yukata and sat on the floor at Kazeshini's feet, acting as a servant in high enough standing to not have to walk. Plenty of luggage had also been unsealed and placed onto the back of the cart so it didn't look odd that Kazeshini didn't have anything with her.

It took an hour to enter the outskirts of the city and another hour to enter the main few districts of the capital city. Kazeshini used a painted fan, made of silk, to help cool her off as well as hide her 'blushing' face when any bystanders offered her compliments. It took a while to get to an actual geisha house where Kazeshini had to pay a small fee to stay for the week.

Her two cart runners could leave for a while and they both paid fees to a cheap hotel. The two bunshins would be walking around the poorer districts and collecting a plethora of information that Kazeshini as a geisha wouldn't be able to attain as easily. The two armed guards would stick close by but chit-chat to other guards when Kazeshini would inevitably see a noble client who would bring their own guards.

Kazeshini 'rested' for the day, as if she were exhausted from travelling, and prepared her private rooms with all her varying supplies. She slept well and woke up the next morning to a simple breakfast before being helped into another elaborate get-up with the help of her servant bunshin. It took a long while for her to be completely dressed with both her hair and make-up ready as well, but once completed she looked almost better than many of the geisha's working in the capital.

With ease, Kazeshini went to a simple side room, one where guests were welcome, and began playing with a biwa (seven-stringed lute). Her fingers strummed delicately at the instrument in hand and she continued playing as a few costumers came in and out as well as various geishas and servants. She kept a peaceful face, emitting such a calming aura that she drew everyone around her like flies to honey.

Her first costumer was a moderately wealthy noble, not quite at the top of the pecking order but high enough that her 'name' would soon get around.

For the noble, she played the biwa and danced with a few musicians playing a few soft drums. She danced for well over an hour, her kimono seeming to float around her as she stepped without sound to the soft beat of the drummers. She was quickly slipped a tidy reward for her time after she had sat down with her costumer to perform a calming but traditional tea ceremony.

Another costumer just wanted to talk, revealing his worries to Kazeshini as she sat calmly with him.

This type of work is what a geisha is about, it wasn't all about sex. It was about relaxation, allowing for the beauty or simplicity of a geisha to relieve stress from listening to stimulating conversation, listening to poetry, music, watching a dance, or participating in any number of tea ceremonies. Sex was the last and final option for regular costumers when nothing a geisha could do would work, and even then, it was the geisha's prerogative to use their bodies. Geisha's were artists, not whores, and they were experts of pleasure without having to resort to carnal desires that a two-bit call girl could perform.

She was sitting and drinking tea with a very upstanding noble, having mild conversation of the current political atmosphere while listening to a few lowly maiko's playing and practicing with their koto's in the next room. The noble man liked to listen to the new maiko's practicing their craft, no matter how badly one might mess up as they were still learning, because he loved hearing the blossoming of youth turning to full blooms.

Kazeshini refilled the noble's tea cup, showing not even a hint of the skin of her wrist as the man wanted stimulating conversation with music to relax and not be distracted by anything else. "It is interesting, the great Uzumaki clan has seemed to suddenly ally themselves with the Senju clan. I only just heard it recently happened after the result of a great battle between the Senju and Uchiha clans."

Kazeshini didn't react save for sipping at her tea, "Oh? I have only known that the Uzumaki and Senju clans are friendly with each other, there having been a few meetings but nothing concrete. What do you think bound the two clans together?"

The noble sipped his tea and finished chewing on a small biscuit that he had taken, "If I heard right, there has been a betrothal between that new clan head of the Senju, what is his name?"

"The clan head of the Senju clan is now Senju Hashirama-sama just as the new clan head for the Uchiha clan is Uchiha Madara-sama."

"That's right, shinobi affairs aren't my forte. Anyways, that Hashirama fellow has been betrothed to the beautiful Uzumaki princess."

Kazeshini could feel her heart speed up at the thought of cute little Mito being betrothed already, "I have heard that Uzumaki Mito-sama is quite a sight to behold."

The noble man nodded and sipped his tea, "Yes, there are also rumors that the daimyo is getting interested in such a union."

The conversation continued and Kazeshini simply sipped at her tea while her client just seemed to drone on about the daimyo this and the daimyo that. She could barely refrain from rolling her eyes as the noble now just seemed to have bright big words plastered on his forehead saying, "I am a brown-noser!" The noble seemed to love kissing the ass of the daimyo even when the esteemed ruler of the Land of Fire wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. Kazeshini marked the client immediately as a person that would die first if any sort of coup were to happen, he didn't seem smart enough to survive in such an atmosphere.

A few days later Kazeshini entertained a shinobi group, a group that had come to speak with another shinobi group with the capital city just being the meeting place. Though it was contentious because the two separate groups shared the same high paying noble client and were at odds with each other.

Kazeshini danced spectacularly for her group of clients, showing such refinement and elegance that she overheard some of the shinobi complaining that the women of their clans couldn't hold a candle to her own grace. Kazeshini didn't speak much with the shinobi group, as they were private and viewed everything they might be able to speak about as 'shinobi' secrets.

Overhearing conversations, though, led to the fact that more and more fights had erupted between the Senju and Uchiha clans, which had the southern area of the Land of Fire to be a danger zone for anyone trying to pass through.

From what she was hearing, it seemed impossible for any sort of peace loving village like Kazeshini remembered Konoha to be to come about from all the horrible fighting. She didn't quite care what happened to the two clans at this moment as long as they eventually got their crap together and joined forces to create the 'first' shinobi village.

Though she would say 'first' with a grin since Taiyo would technically be the first hidden village by a decade.

After spending a month listening to court gossip, regular peasant gossip, and mercenary/samurai gossip Kazeshini was ready to leave. With her 'servant' packing everything, Kazeshini sent out runners to find her two 'guards' and two 'cart pushers.' Everything came together quickly and soon Kazeshini was sitting comfortably in her small carriage to go to her 'next destination.' Though she would actually stop and seal everything away once she was no longer in sight of another person, be it peasant or shinobi or noble.

She stopped at multiple places along the way, never worrying too much about money since many of her high-end clients gifted her with plenty of expensive trinkets that could be sold for a pretty penny.

She was making her way slowly around the five great nations and through a variety of smaller ones as well to get as much information as she needed. She had sent back multiple clones to Taiyo to give information to her blood clone in charge of the hidden village during her trip.

~~~oOo~~~

Kazeshini Blood Clone POV

She was currently the head of Taiyo while the original was out and about. The Original had gotten antsy and bored having to stay in one location, especially having been used to a high paced assassination/seduction career. So, as a Kazeshini-clone, she was forced behind to continue the Original's work.

Kazeshini-clone was currently working at the training grounds with a series of ninjas and samurai, though the classifications had started blurring together. Taiyo had been standing for nine years now, still unknown to the rest of the world, and a large portion of the first academy graduates had already passed through their classes. While most of the civilian adults had stayed in their previous professions, though with extra knowledge that allowed them for greater and better product yield, many of the younger graduates had chosen to be warriors.

There were enough graduates, many of whom where top of their class and outstanding fighters, that Kazeshini had instituted a guard for herself. Though it wasn't entirely needed, it was mainly for show and intimidation as she didn't quite exude an aura of power unlike many of the S-class fighters and ninja out in the world. Since she was now basically made from chakra-flesh, she felt more like nature to any decent sensor and not like any sort of "ALERT DANGER" which she was perfectly all right with. Kazeshini admitted she would probably always be, first and foremost, an assassin.

Her 'guard' therefore, was made of a group of very powerful men and women. Men and women who exuded that aura of danger that was expected out of anyone truly at the level of changing landscapes. Her guard was based of Katekyo Hitman Reborn series with the Elements (or Flames) of the Sky. The guard, which she had thought of the original and grinned, since the clone wasn't pleased at being left behind to sit behind a desk while the original galivanted off throughout the land in search of adventure, and named the two groups the 'Day Guard' and the 'Night Guard.'

She sat in the position as the 'Sky' while the other people filled in the positions of the other elements for the two separate groups: Sun, Cloud, Rain, Storm, Lightning, and Mist.

The Day Guard was a frontal group, a group with the members in the obvious spotlight. This specific guard would be the 'Classic' elements from the series. The Sun would be the healer and medic, the Cloud would be the guard and patrolman, the Rain would be the mediator and ambassador, the Storm would be a taijutsu expert and fighter, the Lightning would be the protector and sentinel, and the Mist would be the illusionist and financier.

The Night Guard was the shadow group of Taiyo, they were the ones that safeguarded the hidden village from the obscurity of the dark. The Sun would be the assassin and hitman, the Cloud would be the strategist and schemer, the Rain would be the spy and infiltrator, the Storm would be the interrogator and torturer, the Lightning would be the scientist and inventor, and the Mist would be the blackmailer and extortionist.

Each position could be challenged, but only when approved by Kazeshini (or in this case, the Kazeshini-clone). The Day Guard was easily changed, especially since these elements could easily be the heads of their group. The Sun was the head healer of the hospital and clinics, the current Sun even ran the first aid courses in the academy and oversaw classes for aspiring medics and doctors. The Cloud was the patrol officer and head of the police in the village, he had guard rotations stationed around the small valley and men patrolling the streets of Taiyo. The Rain had only a view other people under their purview and they mainly helped to settle hot temper during fights and helped iron out trade agreements. The Storm was the general combat expert of the village (be it with taijutsu, kenjustu, ninjutsu, etc.) and helped oversee training of all the warriors in Taiyo. The Lightning oversaw village defenses and defenses around the valley, then on top of defenses the Lightning oversaw the wide area around the valley. The Mist was the main financer as well as overseeing illusionary training in the academy, especially as the Mist had to be acknowledged as the best illusionist in the village.

For the Night Guard, things were a lot different. Unlike the Day Guard where those men and women were easily seen and noticed, the Night Guard were the shadow guard of Taiyo. The Sun was the best assassin and hitman in the village and managed the still small assassination/seduction division. The Cloud was the main strategist, much like the Nara would be in Konoha, and the Cloud would focus on plotting and the meticulous planning of destroying all their enemies. The Rain was the best infiltrator in the small village, he or she would not be traveling much as they were left in the village to supervise all other spies and infiltrators. The Storm was the head of T&I division, labeled as the best and brightest of the group while managing everything under his or her purview. The Lightning wasn't often the smartest of the scientist but he or she would often be put in place to easily manage all other scientists and researchers and keep them from going too far out into forbidden research while keeping Kazeshini informed. The Mist worked alongside the Storm, Rain, and Cloud to compile any information needed and how exactly everything could be used, the Mist mainly worked on word of mouth information while the Cloud plotted against physical attackers.

What had happened as well was the divisions the different Elements of the Sky were also called by the names of the Elements. A White Sun would be any healer or doctor but _The_ White Sun was the leader of the healers and doctors. A Black Sun could be any assassin or seductress or hitman but when Kazeshini called for _The_ Black Sun, the leader of the Black Suns would appear before her. This afforded a sense of transparency to the leaders of the different Elements, but it could also get quite confusing.

The months that the original Kazeshini had been gone allowed for Taiyo to truly settle into itself, and the heads of the divisions being turned into the Day and Night Guards just allowed for cohesion with the different divisions in the warriors of Taiyo.

It was the civilian side that really helped stabilize everything, especially as the Kazeshini-clone helped as much as possible. All warriors, either ninja or samurai class, were required to help civilians if possible so there would never form any sort of resentment between those with 'powers' and those without. Trade was booming and the Kazeshini-clone could practically see the money rolling in. They didn't quite have the land available to sell large amounts of food, but they sold what they could to nearby towns.

It was their textiles that truly brought in the gold. They were selling high quality silk in large amounts from plain white to bold colors, simple patterns to delicate and intricate designs. They sold high quality rice paper that was bought at daimyo palaces and shrines for the rich white color with no stains or discoloration. Ceramics were more recent but Taiyo had a few artisans just starting their craft with the Kazeshini-clone helping by adding a few beautiful and decorative designs that were fuinjutsu seals that helped guard against shattering. Jewelry had been picked up by a few blacksmiths who had wanted to try their hand at working with the precious metals and jewels just laying around the underground cavern of Taiyo.

Alcohol was something that Kazeshini had known about in her previous life but not been old enough to drink, but she had known the general understanding of making various types of alcohol from wine to beer to vodka. With the help of a few civilians, the Kazeshini-clone had introduced different flavored wines, hard apple cider, vodka, and beer. These different types of alcohol had been picked up quickly by outside sales, alcohol becoming one of the staples of Taiyo and a symbol of wealth to serve any sort of Taiyo alcohol during a dinner or gala.

The futuristic technology truly helped push Taiyo to a very high standard compared to everywhere else in the elemental nations. During the building of Taiyo, Kazeshini had been sure to implement plumbing into every single building. With plenty of bathhouses around the village, sanitation was at an all-time high where sickness was easily treatable and the elderly began living longer than ever before.

However, all the technology was not to be spread beyond Taiyo's borders no matter how much the people thought that it should, Kazeshini was not willing to let any sort of war start because of selfish people wanting something 'better.'

With all this money just rolling in from their main staples (silk, paper, and alcohol), all the people living in Taiyo from the youngest babe to the oldest elder wore silk with embroidered eclipse mon (the clan symbol seen on the shoulder of Kazeshini's outfit) as well as specially painted dragons and tigers over bright colored silks. Every citizen always had food on their tables to eat, rice being a definite food source because of the grain being grown for the very expensively sold rice paper. All the citizens, even the farmers and sanitation workers, were all literate and this lead to a booming network of writers and authors publishing anything from fiction novels to non-fiction texts.

The sanitation men and women were paid quite handsomely to clean pipes and deal with the sewers and sanitation system. The sewers were dumped into a series of tanks where the waste was run through fish that fed off the shit, large mesh screens of algae to continue the break down process, and various vegetables gardens grown through hydroponics (being fertilized by the 'dirty' water). The now cleaned water was then dumped into the river, no chemicals meant no hurting the environment, while new water that was used for drinking and eventually running through the plumbing to the sewers was collected rain water which was quite plentiful.

Everything was running perfectly, the original Kazeshini was gaining new contacts across the elemental nations, and Taiyo was shaping up to be quite the little utopia.

It was a nice Sunday when the White Cloud came running in to the palace, the man had been a simple farmer's son until moving to Taiyo where the Cloud had chosen to be a samurai. It was only within the last year that the man had been chosen as the head of the police force and head of the guards helping patrol the lands directly controlled by Taiyo.

"Lady Kazeshini, this scroll came by a runner. The men picked up the runner just on the outskirts of Taiyo, it was inspected and no poisons or dangerous seals were found." The man handed over the scroll, a scroll that had been carefully wrapped and sealed with wax.

Kazeshini-clone broke the seal and carefully opened the scroll to read the contents. A frown broke out upon her face at the contents, and the further she read, the more she frowned. "Get me my White Rain, White Mist, and Black Mist in here now."

A young man took off from his position up in a carefully placed rafter a ways above Kazeshini's head, jumping down from the thirty foot drop to run out the thrown hall. It wasn't that Kazeshini was theatrical or pretentious with her massive throne room (which it really was as she even had a large throne she sat on even though it was positioned behind a desk), she just liked having new guests be shocked and awed by the grandiose room (as if seeing hundreds of massive glowing crystals, a glowing lake, expensive silk, and fancy buildings wouldn't put a guest in a state of shock).

The throne room had massive pillars (each carved with dragons spiraling around the columns), the floor was expertly done wood that shined from a reflective polish, most of the ceiling had been done with an absolutely beautiful painting which was a massive map of the elemental nations (the reflection on the highly polished floor could be used during war with small figures to represent allies and enemies), and a massive golden dragon was carved into the ceiling above the throne where Kazeshini sat (imagine the Jade Palace dragon without the scroll in Kung Fu Panda). It was imposing and grandiose and gave the image of wealth and power to all who were invited.

A minute later and the young man that had run out (who was a member in the infancy version of the Konoha ANBU though the Taiyo ANBU were separated by divisions headed by the different elements) with the three men and women Kazeshini-clone had called for. The White Cloud was waiting patiently, sitting in a chair in front of Kazeshini as he had yet to be dismissed to leave.

"The Hatake clan were excommunicated from their ancestral home by the samurai in the area for being a ninja clan over a samurai clan. They have sent petitions to the Daimyo of Fire Country in hope of finding refuge. Unfortunately, the Fire Daimyo refused them on grounds that Fire Country has too many warring clans, mainly considering the Uchiha-Senju disputes, that have devastated the land too much for the Daimyo to even consider allowing another easily known ninja clan into the country."

The Black Mist nodded her head, curling up comfortably in her chair as she thought over the issue, "I can definitely understand that, the major loss of land and resources do to the Senju-Uchiha war has really made the Daimyo wary of ninja."

"The less said about the loss of money due to destroyed rural towns the better." Stated the White Mist.

The White Rain rolled his eyes at the two mists, "Obviously, it would be quite a good thing to allow the Hatake clan to come here, but where else could they go?"

Kazeshini-clone gave a little shrug, "I only know they have an alliance with the Uzumaki clan, the Hatake's were given weapons during the signing of the treaty between the two clans."

"Why is the Senju-Uchiha war so devastating? Why would the daimyo be so afraid of the two ninja clans?" the White Cloud asked, being a farmer's son before coming to Taiyo meant he didn't know much about the political climate outside of Taiyo.

The Black Mist raised the sleeve of her kimono to cover her mouth coyly, "Apparently, the Senju have become so proficient with using swords that they destroy great swathes of land which the Uchiha then burn to a crisp. I just knew that the Senju used to be great at water jutsu to combat the Uchiha fire jutsu until the clan were given swords by the Uzumaki clan which made them more dangerous. The Uchiha had to combat this new threat by also wielding more weapons, this lead to more destruction of land during fights."

Kazeshini-clone gulped silently, sweating suddenly beneath her own blue and silver silk kimono. She hadn't realized how just adding her forged swords to the equation of history could change so much in so little time.

The White Rain then decided to add his own two cents in, "I heard rumors that the Hatake were close to taking over Iron Country about two years ago, they had taken over a good portion of the region last I heard. That must be why they were kicked out of the country, I know that most samurai hate ninja and vice versa."

Kazeshini-clone so badly wanted to smack herself or whack her head against a wall, repeatedly. Just giving a few sets of high quality weapons to a clan of ninja's who used swords was enough for them to nearly overtake a country. She knew the Hatake clan weren't blood thirsty so they must have been able to fight with greater abilities than most of the regular samurai clans, just taking over naturally which made them a threat to the samurai.

The White Mist cocked his head to the side, "Weapons made them a threat? I don't really understand how a few new swords or knives could make them more dangerous."

Kazeshini snorted this time, "Most weapons are mass produced so there are different types of quality. A cheap weapon is the same as getting a starving mutt. A well forged blade could be equated to a well-trained nin-dog. The type of weapons we're talking about are top of the class blades which would be equivalent to a boss summon. There really is no comparison." (A/N: I remember reading this in a Naruto fanfic, though I don't remember exactly from where, so all credit of this little comparison goes to that fanfic author)

The White Mist nodded in understanding, "So they gained a massive increase in skill with the use of these weapons and were deemed too dangerous to let stay, so they were booted from the land."

The Black Mist nodded, "That is what is would seem like, though this is all speculation."

"I don't understand why they don't go to the Uzumaki clan for help." Commented the White Cloud.

The White Rain shook his head, "The Uzumaki live on an island surrounded by whirlpools that only the Uzumaki can safely cross without using boats. The Hatake clan would slowly be choked by having to live there."

"So, now the question is if we can afford to let the Hatake into Taiyo." Kazeshini looked to the White Mist as she spoke.

"We have plenty of burnable funds to help the Hatake, plus you have seals that would strip the memories of this village if it turns out that it didn't work."

The Black Mist sat forward, "The Hatake coming here would be a great boon, especially as Taiyo only really has civilians who have turned into ninja and samurai. There aren't any actual ninja clans living here at all." The Mist knew what she was talking about especially as she had been a former civilian herself.

"I can head out to the Hatake clan and talk with them about maybe coming to Taiyo, especially since the Fire Daimyo isn't being too welcoming of any more ninja clans." Stated the White Rain, having come to the understanding that inviting the Hatake was most likely going to happen.

The White Cloud stood up from where he had been sitting, this also had the other Elements standing from their chairs. "I will have the runner escorted to the 23rd outpost where supplies will be gathered for the run to the Hatake clan."

Kazeshini nodded and spoke to the White Rain, "Bring with you a Black Sun, a White Mist, a White Sun, and two White Storms a taijutsu and ninjutsu expert respectively."

The White Rain gave a bow while bringing a fist to his chest in salute, "Your will be done."

"Dismissed."

 **A/N:** I am writing things like 'Light Sun said' or 'Dark Storm stated' so it is easier to know the people of Taiyo. I don't care to read a fanfic that I must keep track and remember dozens of original characters and their names lest I lose track of the story. This way, as Kazeshini lives over a hundred years and the different positions are filled by dozens of different OC's, you don't have to memorize an entire list of names. This is also me being lazy so I don't have to think up dozens of names for the different positions, OC's who will eventually grow old and be replaced two or three times before Naruto is born.

Day Guard

White Sun - head of hospital, ran medical classes

White Cloud - head of the police, set guard rotations around Taiyo and the valley

White Rain - mediator and ambassador

White Storm - combat expert

White Lightning - oversaw village defenses and surrounding defenses

White Mist – banker, financer, and illusion expert

Night Guard Black Sun - best assassin/hitman, head of the assassination/seduction division

Black Cloud - strategist (Nara-like), plotting and the meticulous planning for physical attacks

Black Rain - head of infiltration, supervise all other spies and infiltrators

Black Storm - head of T&I

Black Lightning – head of the research and development

Black Mist – information gatherer


	24. Chapter 36-37

Chapter Thirty-Six

Black Sun Interlude

He was the son of bandits, and he had been the leader of a clan that had been bandits and renegades since further back than even his great-grandfather. Over the years, the clan had become small, that even the women were permitted to come with the men on hunts as they barely had fifteen members total of the clan left alive. Kyoya Mukuro had been prepared to live his entire life as his forefathers had, that was until he and his clan came upon the _wrong_ person.

The woman had been beautiful, and he had chosen her as his bride. It was clan tradition to steal traveling women and take them into the clan as brides (or husbands if a female clan member was out on the hunt), and Mukuro had decided that the beautiful blue haired vixen would be his bride.

Without an ounce of chakra sense, he had obviously attacked the woman as she simply walked along the road. Now, most times he and his fellow clan members had attacked anyone on the road, the victims would normally give up without much thought; but Mukuro's would-be bride wasn't their normal victim.

With a shout, he and his clan members jumped from the surrounding foliage to brow-beat his would-be bride. Then, without a chance to even blink, he and his fellow clan members had all been beaten bloody.

Mukuro could still remember laying, half-unconscious, with blood pouring from a cut extending all the way across his chest. Then, with what seemed like the favor of the god's suddenly shining down on them, that beautiful vixen had extended her hand towards him and his clansmen.

Barely a few weeks had passed when he had been soundly beaten with a group of his clansmen that his entire clan was settling into a beautiful building in a beautiful cavern that glowed from both the massive underground lake and massive crystals dotting the entire cavern. They had settled into a building, one which was made from both stone and wood into a representation of a traditional Japanese building save that it had multiple stories instead of being a sprawling compound.

Kazeshini-sama had seen something in him and his clan, something that had made her extend her hand towards them to stay in Taiyo, the Village of the Eclipse.

Mukuro had taken classes in the newly created academy and learned to read and write for the first time. He had learned how to properly handle money as well as basic mathematics, how to properly bind wounds, how to properly grow food for greatest crop yield. Each thing he had learned had started a slow burning fascination within him. Then, with the decision to become a warrior for Taiyo, with the ability to learn to fight properly without waving swords around like batons, he became obsessed with his new leader, Kazeshini-sama.

His obsession became so great, his need to be useful to the one that had shaken his entire world so powerful, that he had changed his very life for her. He had trained until he had passed out, trained until he had broken bones (bones which were healed by Kazeshini-sama which only deepened his obsession for the leader of Taiyo), and then passed any tests given to him without complaint. He had been personally trained by Kazeshini-sama (not that he realized it had actually just been a clone since Kazeshini hadn't had the time to train _anyone_ personally) which had made his fixation ironclad, and then he had learned personal history about his leader.

He had learned that she had been an assassin and seductress before she had established Taiyo, and he _knew_ without a doubt, that he would follow her footsteps as to try and be nearer to his idol.

So, with great training, training that had taken him quite a few years to complete under his idol's view (though it was still just a clone helping to teach him since Kazeshini had seen that the former bandit could be of use), Mukuro had become the best assassin in Taiyo. He was an expert at using the shadows and an expert at killing his targets without anyone ever knowing he was there.

Having been a bandit, he hadn't been opposed to killing in cold blood, his new job as an assassin just made him feel more and more like his idol as he learned that she had also killed in cold blood and didn't look down on him for it.

Then, seven years of living in Taiyo and having personally just turned twenty-eight, Kazeshini-sama had come to him and bestowed him with a silk haori. He was already wearing the uniform of the assassin/seduction force (black and grey mottled pants tucked into black boots and a black and grey mottled yukata top tied with a black silk band, most of the members also wore cloth face masks and bandannas to help hide their faces and hair when on missions) and she had seen to present him with a symbol of leadership.

His new haori was plain black silk, unlike the mottled black and grey outfits they normally wore since plain black would make it harder to blend in with shadows, with a dark silver embroidered sun on either side of the chest as stylized mon with the eclipse of Taiyo stitched on the back.

Mukuro had practically immortalized her words to him, even having those words put in a beautiful calligraphy to be hung in his private office.

She had said to him, "You are the Dark Sun to guard and protect Taiyo from the shadows. You are _The_ Dark Sun in the Dark Sun Guild, you are one of many but you shine the darkest among them."

With her words, the assassination/seduction force had been changed. Instead of a small group of men and women that didn't really know each other and rarely met in one place for any time other than during a meeting with Kazeshini-sama, they had turned into a real guild.

Kazeshini-sama had even given them a guild hall, one which could only be entered by a hidden door high up on the cavern wall of Taiyo. The guild hall had been carved into the rock that surrounded Taiyo, it was a large room with banners of the dark silver sun on black silk hanging on the walls and from rafters. There were over a few dozen places with plain cushions just for small group meetings to lounge in comfort while plush red carpets decorated the floors.

Mukuro himself had been given a small side room as a personal office while a locker room had been placed just next to his office with an attached armory for the members of Dark Sun.

With a helpful letter from Kazeshini-sama, he had even learned of a secret tunnel that lead from the guild hall to the top of the cliff outside of Taiyo for ease of access for the assassination/seduction guild.

For him, the son of a bandit, he was the best assassin and had been given the label as The Black Sun. He had nearly a dozen members of Black Sun under his command, and he was a personal advisor to Kazeshini-sama since he had been given the title of Black Sun. He swore that Kazeshini-sama would forever hold his life in the palm of her hands, should she ask of him to commit seppuku than he would gladly kill himself for her. Such was his devotion, that he would happily sacrifice himself for his leader.

~~~~oOo~~~~

White Storm Interlude

Ryohei Chikusa had been a traveling samurai when Kazeshini-sama had picked him up. He had been a young man, just learning about the world, when his lord had died. He hadn't been a samurai sworn to his lord's service when the man had died, and Chikusa had been quite close to following his samurai compatriots to committing seppuku, but it was his sister that had persuaded him otherwise.

He hadn't been sworn in, so he wasn't a true ronin. That was fine by him, especially as he became a samurai for the people on the roads. Over the years, he had killed more than his fair share of bandits, and it was Kazeshini-sama that had made him finally find a lord (or in this case, a Lady) to swear himself to.

Chikusa had watched her protect a small family of farmers, with small children crying with an old woman hidden under the cart, and he had jumped in to help. His help hadn't really been needed but he had sworn himself to his lady, having found a leader to follow and a leader who could fight with him instead of sending out orders while safely tucked away in a palace.

He had just rolled his eyes when being invited into Taiyo and seen the palace that Kazeshini-sama lived in.

He had taken a few classes at the academy, though he didn't need to learn too much as he had been well taught as a child of samurai, and simply chosen the warrior path. With his expertise in the style of samurai combat, he had begun teaching a class of young children how to live and die by the sword.

However, Chikusa hadn't stopped learning. He followed the young little ninja to their combat classes and learned from Kazeshini-sama as well. He combined more and more forms of fighting, so much so that he could easily replicate any new form of combat with only seeing it once. With more training, he developed a knack for weapons and even began teaching different kinds of weapon combat to the children of the academy.

Then, having become one of the foremost experts on unarmed and armed combat (though he stuck mainly with his samurai training when in a battle pitted against any enemies) Kazeshini-sama had come to him with a white silk haori embroidered with a gold stylized storm on either side of the chest as clan mon with a gold embroidered eclipse on the back which was the symbol of Taiyo.

She had told him, "You are the White Storm to guard and protect Taiyo from as the light. You are The White Storm in the White Storm Guild, you are one of many but you are the hurricane compared to their tempest."

Then, Kazeshini-sama had shoved him in a guild hall with a few dozen other members. Each person had a uniform shoved in their arms and a new armband with the gold embroidered storm on white silk. The uniforms were simple white pants, white shirts, brown utility belts, brown jackets and vests, and brown boots. Each uniform followed the same color scheme but each outfit was tailored to the person wearing it so there were a few people with more traditional outfits and a few with more progressive outfits.

The guild hall itself was nice and relaxing with plush cushions for lounging around while a comfortable light brown carpet covered the floor. Dozens of white silk banners covered the walls and even hung from the ceiling, all stitched with the large gold storm that would become their symbol. Even Chikusa had a small office he could retreat to when he needed to deal with paperwork or to hand out assignments which a small locker room with a designated armory was in a small room next to his office.

Each new member of the White Storm was given their own locker and all of the various members quickly changed into their new outfits, uniforms which would be worn while working with their 'civilian' clothes only being worn on down time. It was quickly found out that Kazeshini had brought them all together in a guild because they were all combat fanatics, though Chikusa was deemed the best because of his sheer knowledge of fighting styles and weapon expertise.

For the members of the White Storm, it truly cemented their loyalty knowing that Kazeshini-sama knew all of them so well that they were grouped with people who at least shared the common interest of fighting (though some were becoming experts at using ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, etc).

~~~oOo~~~

Black Storm Interlude

He was _the_ Black Storm. His previous name had belonged to a useless little sewer rat who had been the baseborn son of a poor noble and a whore. When Kazeshini-sama had taken him in, he had decided to follow her to hell and back should she need it of him. He was devoted to her, and he did not regret it for a moment.

A few years had gone by, and he had taken the nickname 'Pride' but it was not his name and pride was something he would forever be warry of. Then, Kazeshini-sama had come to him with a uniform and a job. He had studied at the academy and wanted to become a warrior, but his missing arm and bad limp would be a major deterrent. His Lady had come to him with a uniform and a job, only a year after he had started in the academy and when he had only turned eight.

As a younger child, he had been starving to death when a container had fallen on his arm and crushed it. He had been forced to cut off his own arm and bandage it with an old ripped shirt, then as he was starving to death, he ate the only food available to him. Still warm from his own body heat, he had stripped the meat from his old arm and used the bones from the hand to decorate his dirty hair. He had only been five years old, and no one had helped him. Even years later, he knew _that_ day, something had cracked within his mind and he would never be healed or completely whole again.

Then, he had been picked out of the gutter by Kazeshini-sama, half feral and covered in the blood of a rival sewer rat who had tried taking his stolen apple from him. She had used chakra to heal him as much as she was able and she had given him food to eat and clean water to drink. She had taken him to Taiyo and let him live in the palace for a year before releasing him into the academy.

He was coined with the term genius, but he hated most of the humans around him so he ignored any pandering to get close to him. He had sped through the few available academy classes until Kazeshini-sama had come to him with a new uniform.

Before, he had been clothed in simple children yukatas or other plain children outfits but they were always nice clothes, without rips or tears. He had hated wearing shoes and had chosen to forget them at his small private home every day while going around barefoot, and he religiously wore his growing hair in a braid when Kazeshini-sama had taught him how. Kazeshini-sama had given him a plain grey outfit with pants, a black shirt, and a grey double breasted button up jacket.

Then, she had taught him how to detect liars.

Kazeshini-sama had brought him with her to meetings to tell if someone was lying to her (though she could easily tell herself and was only using the experience to teach the young feral child brought to Taiyo). Then, she had taught him how to fool others by lying. Once she had deemed him good enough, she had taught him how to trick others by telling only the truth.

He had learned as fast as he could.

Then she had shuffled him to learn medical training in the academy classes. He had been greatly confused, not at all understanding why he needed to learn medical training. However, he studied as much as possible without complaint as it had been his _savior_ who had told him to learn.

Before he could get his medical license, Kazeshini-sama had pulled him out again and taught him how to cause _pain_.

His lessons had made sense at that moment, especially as Kazeshini showed him how to cause pain without too much bodily harm. How to cause pain and tell if the subject was lying to get a release from the pain. How to get a subject to tell the truth by simply the threat of pain. Kazeshini-sama had admitted that she was not an expert, but she was only good enough for quick field-interrogation. He had practically been brought to his knees, whimpering at the thought that Kazeshini-sama was willing to train him so much so that he surpassed her in the art.

He had felt unworthy at the very thought that she wanted to make him better than her, make him better than his _savior_.

However, with great care, so the simple humans of Taiyo did not find out that there was such a dark aspect to the great Taiyo, he was taught how to torture and interrogate. He was taught how to draw out the pain and make his target _bleed_ before spewing out the information he needed.

Seven years later, he was given a brand-new guild hall and a special building just for the interrogation of his enemies. With the new guild hall came new members of the guild, and he became the leader of a group of eight other people. Each and every one of them had been given their plain grey uniforms, even if one young woman complained at how bulky and unflattering they were before she was quickly shut up, and he was given the title of being _the_ Black Storm within a group of Black Storms as well as a large haori that was made of black silk with the embroidered mon of the Black Storm on both sides of the chest in a dark silver while the crest of Taiyo was set on the back.

Having just turned fifteen, he was viewed as the 'baby' of the Black Storms but when it came down to extracting information from an unwilling target, no one else was as creative as he was.

With his new title given to him by Kazeshini-sama, he dropped his nicknames and took up the title of Black Storm as his new name. With every recruit into the Black Storm, he proclaimed they now all belonged to Kazeshini-sama, and any and all new targets to enter in their 'web' would belong to Kazeshini-sama to allow them to do with as she wished. Black Storm was his name, given to him by his _savior_ , and the Black Storms belonged to Kazeshini-sama in its entirety.

~~~oOo~~~

White Sun Interlude

Her name was Haruka Ren, and she had been the daughter of a brothel whore. Her mother had decided to carry her to full term, especially since the lord who had gotten her pregnant helped by sending just enough money to get by during the pregnancy. When Ren had been born, she was immediately slated to follow her mother's footsteps as she had been beautiful with soft black hair and bright violet eyes.

She had grown up happy, well-fed, and well taken care of. Until her mother had contracted a disease from a client and fell ill, dying within a year. She had already begun working in the brothel as a cleaning girl, not yet old enough to earn the _real_ money of a brothel worker, so money was tight and she despaired for the proper age to begin working. That age would be when she bled for the first time, which she was deemed to be a late bloomer as she was still thirteen at the time.

A month before her fourteenth birthday, she bled for the first time and could begin working in the brothel as a whore. Wasting no time, the matron of the house had her virginity sold for a pretty penny and Ren was deflowered the night she no longer bled.

With no future other than as a brothel worker, Ren didn't try leaving because who would want to help or even marry a whore? It was when she turned fifteen, already numb to the work she performed most nights between the sheets, that she met Kazeshini-sama.

Kazeshini-sama had been dressed as beautiful as a true geisha, like one who Ren had seen before and gave absolutely nasty looks to Ren since she had been a whore, but Kazeshini-sama had been kind. The older woman had shown her that there is more to her life than being a brothel worker, and Ren had followed Kazeshini-sama to Taiyo.

Within weeks, Ren had learned how to read and write, and she had found her true calling in medicine. She wasn't the best nor was she the brightest, but she had truly and deeply wished she had known even half the knowledge she was learning in Taiyo, knowledge which could have saved her mother when she was younger. She wasn't the top of her class, wasn't the most innovative, wasn't a true researcher, and she wasn't able to draw on too much chakra before being exhausted as she had started learning too late in life.

Instead, she was dependable and knowledgeable. She was probably the most organized person in the entire academy, keeping everything in a specific pattern of organization that no one could be anywhere as efficient as she was. Kazeshini-sama had chuckled softly and given her the label of a true paper-pusher, though Ren hadn't quite understood what her hero had meant at the time.

Once clinics were up and running in different areas around Taiyo, Ren found herself as the designated leader to all the various medics and doctors. She had simply seemed to usurp the previous leader out of his place by the fact that she was organized and had excellent grace while under pressure.

It was Kazeshini-sama that truly cemented her role in Taiyo as the undisputed leader of the medics in Taiyo by giving her the new medical uniform with a white silk haori with two stylized golden suns embroidered on either side of the chest. The uniform, simple light blue pants and shirts that were easily replaced (Kazeshini basically had scrubs (re)invented), was given to all medics working in Taiyo at the clinics while a more utilitarian version had been given to battle medics which consisted light blue yukata styled top, dark brown pants and a brown vest with plenty of utility belts or packs for medical gear.

Ren knew she wasn't the smartest medic in Taiyo, she would actually classify herself as a run-of-the-mill medic. However, the reason behind Kazeshini officially giving her the leadership position is because Ren had the amazing ability to herd her often stubborn medics to work as a unified team while getting all paperwork done almost as soon as it needed done. It would only take a few more years before she finally understood what Kazeshini-sama had meant behind her comment, she was truly an exemplary paper-pusher.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

(34 Years Old)

Kazeshini frowned as all the knowledge from her clone dispelled.

She hadn't been gone too long, but already her clone had made great strides in changing the very make-up of Taiyo's 'government.' Now, instead of having to look over all paperwork, it was delegated to the Elements of Sky who then pushed it up back up to Kazeshini who could read a short summary of any issues. The council of elders was great with working on the civilian side of things, though they still held no true power other than to settle petty disputes.

The main reason behind the clone having dispelled was because the original Kazeshini was needed back home to deal with the Hatake clan who were due to arrive within the day. The dispelled clone had given all its memories back to Kazeshini, so she knew that it would be required of her to get back to Taiyo. Her clone had, smartly, decided that meeting the Hatake clan would only be proper with the original lest it be seen as an insult to only meet with a clone.

With a sigh, Kazeshini used her modified Hirashin seal to teleport back home.

She landed with a silent flex of her knees onto her polished wood floor and raised an eyebrow at seeing her new throne room/entry hall since she had left. Kazeshini knew for a fact that the massive golden dragon on the ceiling above her desk had not been there before she left.

"I will be in my rooms for a bit to change and get ready to meet with the Hatake clan." Kazeshini called out to a young Black Sun guild member sitting on a hidden rafter above her head.

Without waiting for the young shinobi to acknowledge her, Kazeshini walked from her throne room into the palace proper. Many of the rooms held young children who she had rescued from starvation on her trip around the elemental nations, there was even an entire wing of the palace devoted to being the White Cloud base of operations as well as guild hall for rest and relaxation for the members of White Cloud.

Her private rooms were large and took up a great deal of space, especially since one of her rooms consisted of a massive forge and another room devoted to her studies in fuinjutsu. A nice civilian woman, one who dealt in the craft of making elaborate clothes, always loved to gift Kazeshini with new kimonos at every turn of the season so Kazeshini's wardrobe itself was quite extensive in shear variety.

Having been dressed in her travel outfit, with consisted of the half haori and black breastplate, Kazeshini knew she would need to look presentable. So, she quickly bathed and created a clone to help her with her hair and place it up with elaborate twist held in place by beautiful but intricate gold and silver hair pieces. Then, the clone helped her slip into a multi layered kimono.

The inner most layer was white, then a nice royal blue. The third layer was a beautiful turquoise blue with elaborate ferns stitched in silver. The fourth layer was of cream silk with black stitched patterns along the fabric while the fifth layer was of Prussian blue with more silver patterns stitched on the fabric. Then, she wore a dark silver colored sleeveless haori lined with dark grey fur at the neck and stitched with more beautiful gold patterns. She decided against wearing traditional footwear, and instead just wrapped gold colored thread around her bare feet.

Ready, and only a bit of more blue make-up to complete her look, Kazeshini left her private rooms and when to her throne. Her desk had been moved to the side so as not to impede the full-on intimidation effect she would force upon the Hatake clan when they arrived.

"Bring me my Elements of the Sky." Kazeshini stated while she took out Issen Amimasu, her faithful nodachi, which would be placed on a special pedestal just behind her throne.

"Of course, Kazeshini-sama." One of the Black Sun members answered before he dropped down from his hidden perch and left through a side door to get the Elements.

Kazeshini created a few clones to bring out a few chairs for her Elements and then had another clone go out to a market stall in Taiyo and grab a few sticks of dango.

She was happily snacking away at her treat, one which she decided to have again in a short while when the meeting with the exiled Hatake clan was over. Within moments, the various Elements had gathered together and each sat in a chair which were decorated with their guild symbols. The only one not available now was the White Rain as he had gone out to meet with the Hatake clan on Kazeshini's order, though none of them had yet to realize that a clone had been sitting in for Kazeshini for quite some time.

"The Hatake clan, a ninja clan, were exiled from their ancestral home and they tried petitioning the fire daimyo for land but were refused. We are now going to see if they will live here peacefully, and if they can bow to my rule. If not, they will be forced to find a place elsewhere to live." Kazeshini stated, her fingers twirling the stick of dango she had already finished eating from.

The Black Sun, dressed in an impeccable mottled black and grey uniform with his black silk haori symbolizing he was _the_ Black Sun, snorted, "They should be grateful that Kazeshini-sama deigned to allow them to come to Taiyo let alone allow them to try living here."

The White Mist rolled her eyes at the Black Sun, "You are just obsessed with Kazeshini-sama, we need to at least give them a chance to decide."

"They should be groveling at the great Kazeshini-sama's feet at the thought of even being allowed to live under her rule." Black Storm growled out, his young voice not yet deepened from childhood to adulthood.

"Boys, calm down or I will ensure that your next medical exam include a rectal exam as well." White Sun stated, already with a notebook and pen out ready to jot down notes.

Black Sun froze at the thought, though he still wanted to make everyone bow before the 'greatness' that was Kazeshini-sama.

Black Storm didn't at all care and was drooling a bit at the thought of inflicting such a terror on his own targets.

"Can you please all calm down, and no one will get a rectal exam as punishment." Kazeshini stated while glaring at her Elements, bringing them all in one room usually invited chaos of all kinds.

Black Lightning just sighed happily, "I do so hope that the Hatake clan will choose to stay, I have heard all sorts of interesting things about their white chakra."

"You do know that the white chakra is supposed to be a clan secret, right?" Asked the Black mist, curious at how the Black Lightning even knew about such a thing.

"Nothing gets in the way of science!"

Kazeshini just sighed and looked to the White Cloud who was simply zoned out, not paying the slightest bit of attention to his fellow Elements.

Banter between the elements continued for a while longer until a runner came in, "The Hatake are just at the bottom of the palace steps."

This set off Black Sun and Storm since the runner hadn't paid the proper amount of admiration towards Kazeshini.

"Just open the doors when they get here." Kazeshini stated with a bored air.

Only a handful of minutes later and the doors were opened to allow in a group of worn out men and women dressed in armor. They were all acting stunned and dazed just from the walk across the glowing lake and through the village of Taiyo with its glowing crystals and beautiful stone buildings. Coming to the throne room with silk banners, polished wood floors, a map of the elemental nations on the ceiling and a massive gold dragon above what looked to be the leaders of Taiyo was just enough to send most of the Hatake clan into a numb shock.

"Welcome to Taiyo."

Day Guard

White Sun - head of hospital, ran medical classes

White Cloud - head of the police, set guard rotations around Taiyo and the valley

White Rain - mediator and ambassador

White Storm - combat expert

White Lightning - oversaw village defenses and surrounding defenses

White Mist – banker, financer, and illusion expert

Night Guard

Black Sun - best assassin/hitman, head of the assassination/seduction division

Black Cloud - strategist (Nara-like), plotting and the meticulous planning for physical attacks

Black Rain - head of infiltration, supervise all other spies and infiltrators

Black Storm - head of T&I

Black Lightning – head of the research and development

Black Mist – information gatherer


	25. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

(34 Years Old)

Kazeshini collapsed into bed, absolutely exhausted.

The debates had lasted hours, and Kazeshini had unsealed a massive oak table and chairs for her guests.

There had been many requirements given to the Hatake clan to live by and follow if they were to settle in Taiyo, and one of the stipulations had been that they were all required to take classes at the academy.

That little stipulation had pissed quite a few of the Hatake clansmen, but Kazeshini had required it and the Hatake clan head had agreed to it. They were all required to take classes that the academy required unless any of the clansmen or women tested out of the class. She had also given the clan head a designated month long settling in period before she personally began splitting the clan into the different guilds, groups, and services of Taiyo. Many of the civilian Hatake women would be forced to pick up useful hobbies and jobs that would help Taiyo, especially as Kazeshini wouldn't suffer anyone acting lazy within Taiyo.

Now, she just wanted to sleep, which was starting to be difficult with the massive migraine pounding at her temples.

The one stipulation the Hatake clan had given to her, however, was that they wanted to know the strength of their new 'leader.' Until they knew if Kazeshini was strong enough to lead them, they wouldn't truly be citizens of Taiyo and only be biding their time till a better option came around. None of the Hatake clan wanted to have to bend the knee to a weak or incompetent leader.

The fight between Kazeshini and the Hatake clan head would take place later that very day, and it would be a no holds barred fight.

With a sigh, Kazeshini slipped off her bed and walked slowly towards her closet, the same closet which was filled with tons of different outfits for any occasion.

This time, she chose her regular armor, armor which she had practically remade from high quality metal, leather, and silk. Her armor was still the same, she had just made it so much better than it had been when she had first created it. With some help from a clone, Kazeshini undressed from her layered kimono and slipped into simple pants and a shirt. Then, with careful consideration, each piece of armor was strapped on and tightened or tied properly and with great ceremony.

Finished getting dressed, Kazeshini carefully walked out of her rooms and towards the throne room once more. Half of the Elements had been waiting patiently for her just in the hallways outside of her rooms while the other half stayed waiting with the Hatake clan, keeping an eye on the large group of shinobi.

Once in the throne room, Kazeshini grabbed Issen Amimasu from where it was resting behind her throne. The large nodachi practically hummed to her at the thought of being used once again, not having seen much action in the last few years.

"Come, Hatake-san. We will go outside of the village for our fight." Kazeshini stated, Issen Amimasu being carefully carried against one shoulder.

"Of course, Kazeshini-dono."

~~~oOo~~~

White Rain Interlude

Torren Itade had simply been a civilian merchant when he had met Kazeshini-sama. She had saved him and his family from bandits, and then she had guided them to Taiyo. Taiyo where he and his family had learned how to read and write, where his family had been able to have a good life.

He had never been a warrior or fighter, but he had been chosen by Kazeshini-sama to help the village create treaties with other villages be they simple small farming villages or great cities housing lords or daimyo's.

Kazeshini-sama had seen his work when negotiating with potential buyers and had given him a uniform (a uniform which consisted of formal light grey hakama pants with a dark grey kosode top) and a white silk haori that had a gold stitched rain pattern as the heraldry with the symbol of Taiyo on the back of the white haori. Kazeshini-sama herself had forged a beautiful and intricate haori himo that connected either side of the haori closed which resembled the symbol of Taiyo.

Itade's son had taken over the family business, which had boomed exponentially with the increase of invaluable silk, paper, and alcohol. He had been sent out on missions, normally astride a horse that Kazeshini-sama herself had somehow created from some sort of mix of an actual horse and actual elements.

(Kazeshini knew that any ambassador needed to utilize speed if they weren't already able to use chakra. Since her chosen White Rain was _far_ too old to learn chakra, she had taken upon herself the challenge of creating for the man a ride that could travel at shinobi speeds. With careful planning, she had bought a young filly who she then used fuinjutsu to change. With careful experiments, the horse had grown strong and powerful with a body made of soft but heated ash, hooves made of metal, teeth made of white porcelain, and bones made of granite. Kazeshini had commissioned a saddle for the exquisite mare, a creature more powerful than any normal horse, that was befitting the ambassador of Taiyo.)

Being called the White Rain of Taiyo, a designated position of power within the village, made him incredibly grateful. He had always been a simple merchant, not having the funds to raise his station too high in life before coming to Taiyo, but now he was one of twelve men and women who were of most importance to Kazeshini-sama.

Having brokered a deal with the Hatake clan for Kazeshini-sama, he felt great pride in his station as the White Rain of Taiyo. He had brokered plenty of deals and treaties beforehand, mainly with lowkey agricultural villages and minor lords, but the Hatake clan would bring great strength to Taiyo and his name as the White Rain would be the lynchpin for helping to bring in the clan.

Sitting astride his horse, given to him by Kazeshini-sama, he was able to keep up with the fast-paced running of the shinobi clan. Once in Taiyo, he had helped Kazeshini-sama iron out all the trivialities of the pact between Taiyo and the Hatake's which would hopefully result in the Hatake clan's permanent stay in the village.

There was only a single detail that the Hatake's could not be persuaded from, and it was a fight between Kazeshini-sama and the Hatake clan head.

He followed shortly behind Kazeshini-sama when she had come out dressed in armor that he had never seen her wear before, as she had rescued him and his family from bandits while dressed in her travel outfit which consisted of a simple breastplate covering a blue top and a half haori with tiger print at the bottom. Itade watched practically in awe as Kazeshini-sama had carried a nodachi, a weapon that was taller than she was, with practical ease as they walked out of the city.

He had detoured quickly to the stables just before the bridge across the lake in the great cavern of Taiyo and rode his horse across the bridge to catch up to the shinobi and warriors who were still walking and talking politely. He was a civilian, and he knew every single shinobi and samurai around him knew it, so it was simply practical for him to use his horse to keep up with the men and women who could beat him at any physical contest with both hands tied behind their backs while blindfolded.

They had traveled down the cliff road, the one that had beautiful carved rails and support pillars which zigzagged down the cliff face, until they crossed the river bridge. From there, they began a steady run following Kazeshini-sama out of the small valley, away from dozens of acres of drying rice mulch (which was naturally being bleached by the sun for an entire year before being turned into paper) which a handful of workers were flipping sheets of the mulch to continue drying, away from the mulberry groves, away from the hop fields, away from the vineyards, away from the rice fields, away from practically everything to hit the outer training fields.

Itade had been in Taiyo practically since the beginning. He had watched Kazeshini-sama invite new people in from all over the elemental nations. He remembered the great catastrophe of the rice workers and the silk farmers, the rice workers having been mad that the silk worms were destroying their crops. He could still see the one time that an outsider had tried invading by first burning down their mulberry tree grove, and he remembered how the rice workers had picked up their scythes to fight the few bandits who hadn't been immediately routed by the samurai guards.

Taiyo was a relatively small village, it wasn't very large at all for the amount of people that could live there. Every single building in the great cavern of Taiyo proper was multi-tiered: businesses and shops were interspersed everywhere on the ground floor through to the upper floors, with homes and families living practically on all levels. Bridges, walkways, and staircases were everywhere to allow for ease of travel from place to place all desperately needed because the buildings were tall and squished together to allow for the larger population in an underground cavern. This meant that the most of Taiyo's major agricultural product yield had to be grown outside of the caverns.

Yes, there was a few massive caverns that were used for growing crops, however the mulberry trees could not be grown underground less they grow sickly and die. The rice needed mud fields to properly grow, and unless carefully sanitized, mud could easily breed sickness within the caverns that could devastate Taiyo. The hop fields and vineyards had come quite a few years later so none of the crop caverns had been designated for such permanent plants.

The training fields weren't quite numerous in Taiyo either, the track running through the stone of the earth in a circuit around Taiyo being one of three indoor training fields (though the track wasn't actually a field but just a very enclosed running trail that was twisted and filled with places needed to be climbed, gaps to jump, and sometimes even traps to detect for the academy students). The second field was for the academy students in the warrior track, it was small and actually placed on the roof of the academy so that students had the space to learn their beginner's katas and other basic exercises. The final training field was on the palace grounds.

The palace training ground was actually in an adjacent building to the palace proper, the training ground being a room that was two square acres wide and with a ceiling at two stories in height. The rest of the training building was used for a few other purposes that he wasn't quite sure what they were for, but Kazeshini-sama allowed for its use by any of her warrior inclined Elements such as White Storm or Black Sun.

This meant that most of Taiyo's training fields were located in the surrounding lands around the village. The various fields for a good monetary yield were located closer to Taiyo itself, the training fields having been shoved further out to allow for the needs of Taiyo itself to come first. This was also a good defense for Taiyo because if any enemies came towards Taiyo, the people in the training fields could react quite easily which didn't even take into account the dozens of different outposts surrounding Taiyo itself.

Once they finally arrived at the training field, Itade watched Kazeshini-sama prepare herself against the Hatake clan head.

As a civilian, it was an amazing spectacle to watch true warriors fight.

Then, within a few seconds, the two ninja clashed.

Itade couldn't keep up with the two fighting. He heard the clashing of metal against metal, he saw the aftermath of elemental 'spells' at work, but he only saw blurs.

Still, in less than five minutes, Itade could suddenly see Kazeshini-sama holding her unsheathed nodachi at the Hatake's throat (not that he had actually been able to see Kazeshini draw her weapon). Slightly disappointed that he hadn't truly been able to watch the fight, Itade clapped politely for Kazeshini-sama as she helped her opponent off the ground.

Once they were back in Taiyo proper, he (as the White Rain) showed the Hatake clan to their new home. The Hatake clan would be settling into a new clan compound which consisted of five different floors instead of spread out across sprawling lands like they had lived in before being excommunicated from the Land of Iron. Itade had even shown that the large roof of the building they now resided in was a place where they could grow their own food if they wished,

With the day over, Itade gave his short report to Kazeshini-sama before heading home.

He had to climb three sets of stairs, cross a bridge, walked past a handful of pretty good restaurants (one which he entered to pick up dinner) and other business, stopped and said hello to a few residents just outside the front doors of their homes, and finally opened his own front door.

With a grin Itade gave a call, "I'm home!"

~~~oOo~~~

White Lightning Interlude

As the White Lighting of Taiyo, he oversaw Taiyo's defenses which was an astronomical challenge that he was quite grateful to live up to for Kazeshini-sama.

He had been a clanless shinobi when Kazeshini had nearly killed him. He had been picked up by a ruthless slave trader as a young boy and sold for a barely a few thousand ryo to a shinobi clan. He had been trained ruthlessly, he had been brainwashed within the year and nothing but a mindless slave to do the work of the shinobi.

One mission he had been given was to guard the clan from attack, and that was exactly how he had met Kazeshini-sama and nearly been killed by her.

She had attacked his 'owners' and had killed them all, so disgusted was she at the thought that the shinobi clan was basically brainwashing meat shields to do their dirty work for them. He had defended his clan, at least he had tried to defend them. She had mopped the floor with him in barely a few seconds, having used her sword to nearly cut him in half.

Luckily, he had what she called a 'kekkei genkai.' It was what made him so valuable to the shinobi clan. It was what allowed him to survive the attack.

Kazeshini-sama had taken the children, killed every single adult, and torched the compound to the ground when she breathed out a dragon made of fire.

Bleeding out, his intestines practically falling out of his stomach, he had tried attacking her once again.

She had knocked him _out_.

When he had awoken again, he had been mostly healed. Seeing her again, he had attacked. She had simply beaten him black and blue.

That was when he met the man who would become the Black Sun. That man had been a fanatic, pure and simple. As a former brainwashed slave, practically mindless and without any sort of self-identity, that fanatic had somehow helped change him.

It had taken quite a few years of careful rehabilitation, though Kazeshini had also used him as a training tool for the Black Storm which he admitted was slightly odd, before his allegiance was shifted to Taiyo and Kazeshini-sama. The Black Sun having made his goal in life to convert others to becoming as fanatical as he was towards the Lady of Taiyo, not that he (White Lightning) would ever be as vocal in his fanaticism towards Kazeshini-sama.

His skills had then been given quite the upgrade by the Lady of Taiyo herself (though it was only a clone), and he had gained strength in leaps and bounds. He had been given a uniform consisting of black shoes, tan pants, a black sleeveless turtleneck, and a dark blue high collared jacket with a removable hood. He personally had been given a white haori with gold stitched lighting on the chest for heraldry with the symbol of Taiyo on the back. With his uniform, he was given command over a handful of men and women who were all charged with keeping up with the defenses of Taiyo as well as working with the new fuinjutsu barrier that Kazeshini-sama had created and practically just handed them the keys to the fuinjutsu seal.

Looking back, he only saw his time with the shinobi clan as dark and not worth the time and effort to even try thinking about anymore. His life at Taiyo was so much better, though he was often confused with emotions and reactions of other people because of the large number of years being a brainwashed slave/puppet/meat shield.

With the arrival of the Hatake clan, he had actually been quite nervous and wary. It was only the assured confidence of Kazeshini-sama that had quelled most of his worries about inviting a _shinobi clan_ into Taiyo.

Being the White Lightning and the protector of Taiyo, he mainly focused on defense against threats coming from outside of Taiyo while the White Cloud focused on both man power and conflict within Taiyo itself. He was actually twitching at every barrier and defense the Hatake clan were able to pass while entering Taiyo, the place that he guarded religiously. It had aggravated him that he had been required to go towards his guild of White Lightnings to collect an entire box of the special bells which were created so the residents of Taiyo could find the village and live in it without the barrier rejecting and deflecting them.

The fight between Kazeshini-sama and the clan head was extremely satisfying after having to cater to the Hatake clan to even allow them within Taiyo. He would admit that he was probably quite biased against shinobi clans because of his bad history and that it irritated him that this shinobi clan was allowed to practically waltz around within Taiyo which was his territory to safeguard.

With a grin, he watched as Kazeshini-sama prepared herself for the fight against the Hatake clan head.

He watched as she gripped the hilt of her sword, a sword that he remembered singing with chakra as it nearly split him in half, and used her thumb to free only a centimeter of the blade from the sheath.

Then, as the wind blew across the training ground, the two fighters clashed.

Kazeshini-sama used a quick draw technique that the Hatake barely blocked with his own sword, though the ken'atsu (literally: 'pressure of the sword.' The power moved by the blade cutting through the air) left behind a wide gash on the Hatake's armor. Kazeshini-sama then quickly stepped back from the blade lock, forcing the Hatake to disengage lest he become unbalanced.

With a bare handful of hand-signs, Kazeshini-sama spat out a massive ball of mud towards the Hatake which the man jumped to dodge. A quick fuuton was followed by another doton then a katon. The Hatake used a quick suiton and then a raiton to try counteracting Kazeshini-sama's own attacks which she only responded by using a raiton herself followed by another fuuton. With the fuuton jutsu, Kazeshini-sama ran just behind the gale force wind blades of the technique and used her nodachi to attack the Hatake.

They clashed blades, the fuuton cutting through the Hatake's armor as he was forced to choose between blocking Kazeshini-sama's attack or deflecting the fuuton jutsu. With a quick build-up of chakra, Kazeshini-sama used her nodachi to create a genjutsu that had the Hatake stumble back with a green face from nausea. With only a single doton technique that shifted the ground beneath the Hatake's feet, combined with the perception altering genjutsu, the Hatake lost his footing which Kazeshini quickly took advantage of.

The fight was over the second that Kazeshini-sama had her blade poised at the Hatake's neck.

Once they walked back to Taiyo, he (White Lightning) quickly explained the reason behind the bells that the Hatake were require to now wear at all times like every single resident of Taiyo currently wore. "These trinkets, no matter how you wear them or where you keep them, allow you to find Taiyo. The barrier normally makes the area around Taiyo uninteresting and deflects people around the village so nothing 'interesting' is discovered. Wear these at all times unless you want to forget all about Taiyo."

One of the Hatake's dared to give him lip, which quite annoyed him since he was the White Lighting of Taiyo, his standing above everyone else's because of his position as an Element of the Lady of Taiyo. "Do we have to wear this woman's jewelry even within the village?"

"If you don't wear the 'woman's trinket' within the village, the White Clouds will find out and you will be fined at a minimum of five thousand ryo for the first offense. The second will be ten thousand, the third will result in you personally speaking with the White Cloud captain himself for the offense. These charms are a matter of village security, not just because if you step foot outside of this village you _will_ forget it exists."

Once he was done speaking with the shinobi clan, and just the thought of being buddy buddy with a _shinobi clan_ gave him hives, he left the White Rain to guide them to their new home. Emotionally exhausted, which meant he needed to meditate and speak a bit with his friend the Black Sun to help discern his emotions, he left for home.

Home was the guild hall, a small little set of rooms built into the cavern walls of Taiyo. It had the main room fill with tons of cushions and plush carpets in shades of blue and tan, and dozens of white silk banners hanging all around the main room with the gold symbol of lightning. His office was off in a small little side room next to a locker room where most of the White Lightnings in the guild placed their 'civilian' clothes while on duty. The barrier room, a room which held the key of the barrier around Taiyo which they used for maintenance, was behind a false wall which was behind a white silk banner.

With a sigh, he collapsed on a blue futon he had dragged into the guild hall, blue pillows practically burying him within feathered fluff. One of his lightnings walked into the hall laughing with another lightning, and just the sight of his feet sticking out from the pill of cushions was enough to shut them up and have both ever so slowly back away.

Day Guard

xXx White Sun - head of hospital, ran medical classes

White Cloud - head of the police, set guard rotations around Taiyo and the valley

xXx White Rain - mediator and ambassador

xXx White Storm - combat expert

xXx White Lightning - oversaw village defenses and surrounding defenses

White Mist – banker, financer, and illusion expert

Night Guard

xXx Black Sun - best assassin/hitman, head of the assassination/seduction division

Black Cloud - strategist (Nara-like), plotting and the meticulous planning for physical attacks

Black Rain - head of infiltration, supervise all other spies and infiltrators

xXx Black Storm - head of T&I

Black Lightning – head of the research and development

Black Mist – information gatherer


	26. Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

(35 Years Old)

Kazeshini gripped her hammer tighter, twisted the pair of tongs in her other hand, and quickly inspected her work.

She was trying to create something that would help distinguish her shinobi from any other group. The hitae-ate were already in production, each of her warriors receiving the forehead protector with the symbol of Taiyo etched on the metal plate. However, going out on missions, her shinobi resembled every single shinobi running around the elemental nations already. They fought with kunai and shuriken, used generic jutsu's that all other shinobi knew, and the few who fought with swords weren't all that different than the sword users in mist.

The ninja in Ame would soon use needle filled umbrellas, the ninja in Suna would be known for puppetry. She wanted the ninja of Taiyo to be known for something.

So, she sat in front of her forge, trying to recreate something from her memories.

Being a reincarnation comes with certain benefits, she didn't have to have a wide imagination to come up with new weapons or techniques. Her memories contained all that information anyways, she just had to try and remember. She had loved to read books, watch movies, watch television, play video games, watch anime, and read manga which gave her a plethora of new ideas as long as she remembered those fun little tidbits. One little tidbit was the hidden blade from Assassin's Creed.

However, remembering the hidden blade didn't mean that it was suddenly ready to be created and used by her shinobi forces. She had to create the blade so it was retractable and would slide out silently and with only a flick of a wrist or tensing of a muscle. The tiny little gears were difficult to create, the hollow retractable part of the blade was nearly impossible to create without the actual blade just slipping out on accident, and the casing could easily break if not carefully forged.

Having been tired of politics, Kazeshini had retreated to her forge. With a plethora of new ideas just ready to be created, she had started on something easy and worked her way up to more difficult ideas.

She had created a few dozen throwing knives (disliking the bulkiness of kunai and hating shuriken so they were rarely used) having run low on the smaller blades before working on a few new swords. A few assistants, a few young boys who were apprenticing under her as blacksmiths and swordsmiths, were creating the scabbards and hilts for the blades while a Kazeshini-clone sharpened all her weapons. The boys were also helping her by keeping the forge hot with fuel, preparing metal pieces, and completing a few projects of their own while Kazeshini worked.

Normally her apprentices would be working with a clone, working on private projects, or helping the shinobi and samurai of Taiyo with their weaponry as needed. To Kazeshini, it seemed as if she was rarely getting the chance to use her skills in the forge other than the rare occasion.

With a twist of her arm, she placed the small thin blade into the fire to reheat. She set down her hammer and twisted her back, sighing in relief even as she heard her back pop in half-a-dozen places.

"Okay my lovelies, ready for a new lesson?" Kazeshini spoke to the various young men who were working around her forge.

"Hai, Kazeshini-sama!" was the quick reply. The boys all quickly set aside what they were doing and flocked over to where she was sitting next to a large anvil placed next to the forge itself.

Twisting around, Kazeshini grabbed what looked to be a large clay block. "Now, I cut this in half and carved what I needed from a wood block. With the wood block, I have the exact dimensions of what I need, and I pressed the wood into the clay to create an imprint. Then, I fit the two halves of the clay block together to create a template."

Kazeshini used a pair of tongs to grip a clay cup, which was currently resting in the center of the forge fire, and slowly poured the molten iron/copper/aluminum mixture into the mold. The molten metal soon dripped from the bottom and from a few places in the sides of the block before it had cooled down enough and completely fill the inside of the clay block.

"Now, the open points at the bottom and the sides allow for air to escape. If I didn't have those points, there would be tons of bubbles within the mold, rendering the pieces that I am trying to make useless." Kazeshini set the clay cup back in the furnace after filling it back up with metal shavings to be melted down once again.

"So, Kazeshini-sama, what exactly is it that you are making?"

"A retractable hidden blade for my shinobi. Something they can take pride in using that is only known for by the Taiyo shinobi. My samurai, on the other hand, will most likely be using something else since the hidden blade would not be to their tastes. I think that I would create a series of special armor for the samurai along with a series of weapons for the samurai, though I'm still not quite sure."

"How long will it take to cool being in clay?"

Kazeshini shrugged, "I don't know, so I won't be cracking it open until tomorrow. Safer that way. Okay rascals, chop chop, off with you!" Kazeshini whipped around a small hand towel and shooed away her students. With them running back to their own projects and assignments, she simply had to turn back to the softened blade in the fire to continue working away at it.

~~~~oOo~~~~

Kazeshini had left behind another clone to rule over Taiyo while she took care of an important mission. She had donned her assassin uniform, covering herself in dark layers of clothing with more than a few leather straps around her body carrying a plethora of throwing knives.

Her target was in an expensive bathhouse, being the son of a noble it was expected of him to waste away more money than a commoner could spend in their entire lifetimes. The boy was stupid, unafraid of anything even with his father having guards prepared for an assassination attempt. The contract on the boy had been sent out because the idiotic boy had raped another noble's daughter.

This was where Kazeshini came in.

She didn't need scout out the bathhouse even when there were guards aplenty around the premises. This was a simple milk run for her, something that she would normally have given to her Black Sun to be distributed down onto a lower black sun, but she wanted to try out her experimental hidden blade.

She simply walked up behind one of the guards at the back entrance and, using one of her hidden blades, slit his throat. The guards were all thugs, better than normal thugs, but thugs nonetheless. It wasn't all that difficult to get in, and the first rooms she came to were the changing rooms.

Kazeshini danced around the reflection of mirrors placed against one wall, not letting herself be seen by one of the men currently using dental floss on his teeth at one of the sinks. She merely yanked another man away from where he was standing, her hand wrapped around his mouth to keep him from crying out, and quickly stabbed one of her hidden blades into his neck.

The man gave a little jerk before Kazeshini released him to slid down the wall he had previously been facing leaving a trail of bright red blood in his wake.

The first man in front of the mirror looked up from where he had been splashing his face with water from a sink, and gave a startled gasp at seeing the trail of blood on the wall behind him due to the reflection in the mirror.

The man turned around going for a weapon of any sort when Kazeshini merely ghosted up from the shadows and wrapped his bathrobes around his neck. It took but a moment to kick out with her leg to simply dislocate the man's femur from his hip, reducing most of his ability to struggle as Kazeshini strangled him to death.

Once he had stopped moving, unconscious, Kazeshini released him and let him fall to the ground. Then, with a swift stomp, she had his throat crushed and his neck broken.

Kazeshini exited the changing rooms and walked into a side door where two guards were watching through beautifully tinted glass that decorated the main baths. Kazeshini looked through the windows and quickly spotted her target before walking behind one guard and quickly using her blade to slit his throat.

The second guard was just walking around a corner and Kazeshini simply leaned against the adjacent wall to hide herself. The man turned the corner and Kazeshini swiftly slapped her left hand against the man's mouth while stabbing him in the gut with her hidden blade. In a last act of panic, the man tried smacking her hand away from his mouth and tried punching her but Kazeshini was able to block the hit with her right arm and used her left to swiftly punch him in the throat.

Kazeshini put her left hand back over the man's mouth to muffle any noise before jabbing her right blade up into his throat and into the brain. She pressed her weight against the man as he slowly slid to the floor, her eyes staring deep into his even as he died. She could see the very life drain from his eyes as she stared deep at him as his life-blood dripped down her arm.

It sent a slow shiver down her spine as she watched the panic leave his eyes as the thug resigned himself to his own death before his soul was claimed by the Shinigami. This, this was the thrill of being an assassin and it had been years since she had performed her own mission instead of only handing the assignments out.

With a quick release of her blade, the corpse out of her mind as it was no longer relevant, she stalked around to get a swift look at her target once more. The stupid boy was drinking alcohol with a trio of women, enjoying the music of the bathhouse.

A third man came in through a side door and Kazeshini swiftly blocked a sloppy punch before swinging her hidden blade to gut him, he cried out and tried swinging a punch which Kazeshini caught. She quickly threw her shoulder into his torso and flipped them both over so she could quickly punch him to the ground. With her weight on top, the man was entrapped, but a forth guard came around which Kazeshini simply coldly threw a throwing knife into his neck before punching her hidden blade into the skull of the man trapped beneath her.

Finally, Kazeshini entered the bathhouse and threw a knife at her target only for a massive man to have unfortunately stood in the way. The knife entered the man's forehead and threw him backwards into the pool he had just stepped out from. Kazeshini scowled and drew another blade to throw at her target.

However, her miss had alerted the wide variety of guards that she was there.

A massive man jumped in the way of her target and grabbed her arm to try holding her back, Kazeshini simply stomped her foot down to get the man to jump back in pain. Then, with three quick jabs, she used her hidden blade to kill him before using a throwing knife to finish the job.

A trio of guards came after, allowing for her target to run and Kazeshini swiftly took care of them with a trio of throwing knives.

Kazeshini ran after her target, killing another man that had come down the set of stairs her target had escaped up.

That floor consisted of a plethora of young, stupid rich kids partying and Kazeshini entered the throng to find her target. Two guards had also entered the throng of partiers and Kazeshini easily jabbed her hidden blade into one guard and then then second before using a throwing knife to kill the first man.

She ran up the stairs to the third floor, having spotted her target running and quickly used her hidden blade on another guard, then a second, then a third. A fourth tried blocking her and she jabbed him in the knee before throwing a knife into his skill. A fifth tried jumping her and she blocked him before trying to jab him in the throat.

Her blade had jammed, too much blood gunking up the gears, and Kazeshini simply exchanged her hidden blade for a spare while the guard she had jabbed in the throat was stunned. Then, she simply killed him with another jab to the throat with the spare blade.

A sixth came up from behind her and she simply killed him with a throwing knife before a seventh came from where her target had run and she used another throwing knife. An eight held a crossbow came from the same door as guard number seven but had hidden behind the same pillar as Kazeshini did when she saw the crossbow.

She quickly looked down and saw the guard's foot sticking out from behind the pillar and threw a quick blade into the appendage. With a scream, the eighth guard scrambled back and Kazeshini jabbed him with her hidden blade before kicking him through the doors.

A ninth guard came after her and Kazeshini rolled to the floor to kick the man's legs out from under him while grabbing his flailing arm to roll the man underneath her own body. Another stairwell had a tenth guard running up which Kazeshini simply threw a hidden blade into his skull. Then, with a quick twist of her body, she had her hidden blade jammed into the throat of the guard being held under her.

She swiftly stood up and went after her target where she could see him running but a twelfth guard blocked her passage so she quickly struck him with her blade. A thirteenth came up behind her which she simply threw a knife into his eye. Another guard came running up to her with a punch, and Kazeshini grabbed the arm and twisted herself around so the man arm was twisted at eh shoulder while she threw a hidden blade at another guard. Then, with a quick flip, the guard in her hand was thrown to the ground where she used a quick throwing knife to end his life.

Kazeshini looked for her target but was thrown to the ground as a crossbow bolt smacked into the chest piece of her armor. Another bolt hit the ground right where she had been thrown to the ground before she had rolled to the side.

With swift accuracy, Kazeshini threw a knife and killed the crossbowman.

However, as she stood up, a rival shinobi kicked her. "Fucker!" Kazeshini cried out as she was thrust back into a side table filled with glassware.

The enemy shinobi gave a jab at her which Kazeshini was forced to block before she retaliated with her own thrust. Before catching a thrown fist to flip her opponent over her back.

They quickly traded a fast-paced set of blows before Kazeshini was jabbed in the side with broken glassware. Kazeshini growled darkly and glared at her opponent, clutching at her side which was bleeding down her leg, before rushing forward while releasing six levels of her resistance seal to overwhelm her opponent. With a blur of speed, she jabbed her hidden blade into her opponent's throat and quickly set off after her target.

Blood dripped down the floor with every step she took until she had finally caught up to her target. The stupid boy stared at her in shock, frozen as if he had taken the form of a statue.

Kazeshini wasted no time and quickly slit his throat before walking away from the premises, a quick healing jutsu keeping any more blood from spilling.

~~~oOo~~~

Back in Taiyo Kazeshini dispelled the clone and called for a white sun. A healer, one of the five that were stationed specifically in the palace to help, came running to Kazeshini practically frothing at the mouth in worry while the White Sun came running with a handful of the other elements in tow.

"Are you all right, Kazeshini-sama?" one of the group called out, worry practically consuming the entire group.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine."

The healer snorted, "Right, and you clearly haven't had your side ripped open, you're lucky that you haven't bled out!"

Kazeshini rolled her eyes and replied, "Yes, I am just a little rusty at healing jutsu, no need to get your panties in a twist."

The Black Cloud couldn't help but scowl, "And just how did an enemy get the drop on you?"

Kazeshini blushed a bit, "There hadn't been any mention of shinobi opposition so I had my resistance seal up the entire time. I couldn't quite keep up with the shinobi so I got stabbed by broken glass that I had previously been kicked into and broken. I have let my iryojutsu go since I haven't been using those skills much at all, otherwise I would have simply patched myself up before I got back here."

The doors were opened and in came the rest of the Elements of Taiyo along with the head of the Hatake clan.

"Kazeshini-sama!" cried out the Black Sun as he ran forward, practically frothing at the mouth with tears running down his face a snot clogging up his nose. "You left and we didn't even know it was a clone until you came back bleeding out!"

"Yes, Kazeshini-sama, it was highly annoying to be practically avoided by you and then to learn that you were being avoided by a clone was even more annoying." Said Toyashi Hatake as he came forward, a great scowl marking his features making him look older than even what his silver hair made him out to be.

"Well, there wasn't much to talk about, Hatake-dono."

"Yes, there was." The Hatake clan head stated with his scowl deepening. "I wished to discuss some topics with you at the earliest convenience. Seeing as I have practically been avoided by and apparently by your clone, I think it were prudent to see what reason you have been avoiding me."

Kazeshini sighed and rolled her shoulder and twisted her torso, ignoring the complaints leveled her way by the medic and her Elements. "All right, lets convene in a more private area."

The Black Sun gave a plethora of arguments, not wanting to leave her side after she had been injured but Kazeshini sent him a withering glare to set him in his place.

"Enough, you will either wait here for me or go about to your business. I will not have you following me like a wayward pup."

The former bandit turned assassin practically pouted at her before turned away to sit at the foot of her throne, "I'll wait here then."

Kazeshini couldn't help but rub her hand over the Black Sun's hair, petting the man who was sitting at the foot of her throne before heading off to her more private sitting room with the Hatake clan head.

"So, Hatake-dono, what did you wish speak about with me?"

Toyashi's face was blank as he looked at Kazeshini, "I wanted to know what a Uzumaki is doing building a hidden village and not back in Uzu."

Kazeshini raised an eyebrow and leaned farther back into the chair she was sitting in while crossing her legs. "Oh? Why would you think I am an Uzumaki?"

"Because I remember as a younger boy as Uzumaki Kazeshini presented a fine gift of many weapons, ones she had made herself, for the alliance between the Uzumaki and the Hatake clans. While you may have changed your hair color and eye color, and while your skin tone might look different, I knew it was you the moment you used the main weapon of the late Uzumaki Kazeshini. The only known shinobi nodachi named Issen Amimasu, forged and wielded expertly by the late Uzumaki Kazeshini. Now, my question to you, is why did you fake your death?"

Kazeshini didn't speak for a few moments, staring heavily at the clan head in silence. She stayed silent for so long that the younger man began shuffling in anxiousness. "When I was a young babe, Kami-sama gave me a gift though I will not tell you all of what that gift entailed, however, that gift gave me knowledge of what I personally needed to do. So, I delved deep into forbidden Uzumaki knowledge and I create a seal so powerful that it took years to charge with natural chakra and even with the chakra from a massive celestial event to complete. Once complete, I activated that seal and it took well over five years to complete what it had been created to accomplish."

Toyashi waited patiently for Kazeshini to tell her tale, interested in exactly what she was trying to get at.

"That seal created a new bijuu, one without an obvious tail or any sort of colossal animalistic form. I left my clan, my family, because I knew that my greatest creation would be condemned and envied by everyone. They would want to use my seal for themselves or they would want to destroy it, maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but someone with an unscrupulous character would have gotten ahold of my creation and use it to try and become a god. I left to become someone different, so that I would not be questioned. In the process, I created Taiyo so that the knowledge given to me by Kami-sama would be properly utilized. Does that answer your question?"

Toyashi frowned, "Will you ever tell exactly what the gift was?"

Kazeshini raised an eyebrow at the younger silver-haired man, "I do not think I will ever trust anyone with exactly what that gift entailed, not even my parents were given that chance." Kazeshini stood up from her seat and gave a faux smile at the Hatake clan head, "I am feeling slightly weary from my travels, so I hope we can continue our discussions another day."

Toyashi stood from his chair and gave a bow, "Yes, Kazeshini-sama. Have a wonderful day."

Kazeshini watched as he walked out of her private sitting room before slowly following in his wake to collect her Black Sun lest the assassin feel as though he had been forgotten.

~~~oOo~~~

A/N: If any of you have watched the movie John Wick, then you will most likely realize the resemblance of the massive fight scene in this chapter to the Red Circle scene in the movie. Without having watched that movie, I would most definitely have been stuck on this chapter for more than a few weeks as I had absolutely no idea how to continue.

If anyone has any ideas on what Kazeshini could do for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shinobi wars and everything in-between I would be eternally grateful!

Day Guard

xXx White Sun - head of hospital, ran medical classes

White Cloud - head of the police, set guard rotations around Taiyo and the valley

xXx White Rain - mediator and ambassador

xXx White Storm - combat expert

xXx White Lightning - oversaw village defenses and surrounding defenses

White Mist – banker, financer, and illusion expert

Night Guard

xXx Black Sun - best assassin/hitman, head of the assassination/seduction division

Black Cloud - strategist (Nara-like), plotting and the meticulous planning for physical attacks

Black Rain - head of infiltration, supervise all other spies and infiltrators

xXx Black Storm - head of T&I

Black Lightning – head of the research and development

Black Mist – information gatherer


End file.
